Just in time for the 25th anniversary a new version of the international well-known simulation tool TRNSYS is released: TRNSYS 15. New developments of both user-friendly interfaces and mathematical models have been implemented responding to a growing commercial application of TRNSYS. For example, the graphical input interface IISiBat has been completely rewritten in C++ and offers now all the comfortable features of modern window programs.

Computer models used to predict building heating and cooling energy and occupant thermal comfort at present rely on climate data collected at a remote meteorological station. No account is taken of the changes in meteorological conditions caused by the urban developments, yet it is known the differences can be important.

In a larger research program on ‘cost versus value evaluations in the early design stages of technical buildings’, a study and software implementation has been made to simulate HVAC expertise using an Integrated Early Design Environment. Basically the idea is to create a virtual early design software environment where the development of the requirements, concept designs and evaluations on costs and values is supported.

This  paper  discusses  the  use  of  multiple  building performance simulation tools to support the design of a state-of-the-art intelligent library building in Singapore.

The simultaneous optimization of building’s fabric construction, the size of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and the HVAC system supervisory control strategy, would auto- matically account for the thermal coupling between these building design elements. This paper describes the formulation of such an optimization problem for a single air conditioned zone.

Building   Integrated   Photovoltaic   (BIPV)   system implementation is on the rise worldwide. A computer modeling tool was developed to predict BIPV system power generation in commercial buildings. This tool utilizes hourly weather data files and  complex Electric Utility tariff structures to predict BIPV system power output as well as providing economic analysis. A number of cities and building  facade angles were modeled to test the predictive nature of this tool.

For users and developers of energy simulation software tools, knowledge of which inputs have a signif- icant impact on the simulation results is very impor- tant, as this will dictate which areas of the building justify additional development and input time. In the form of a sensitivity study, those factors gen- erally considered to have the largest impact on simu- lated heating load, were compared against a  base case model—a typical Canadian house in Ottawa. It was determined that the simulated heat load was particularly sensitive to the following  parameters: the sub-zoning of the living

This   paper   reports   on   a   research   project   that investigates the need for computational support for a specific stage of the building design process: the selection of energy saving components. The approach consists of a survey amongst architects and consultants who were involved in the design of recent energy-efficient building projects. The results reveal that computational tools only play a limited role in the selection of energy saving components, mainly due to the design decision process currently in use.

The design of buildings is a multi-criterion optimization problem, there always being a trade- off to be made between capital expenditure, operating cost, and occupant thermal comfort. This paper investigates the application of a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) search method in the identification of the optimum pay- off characteristic between the elements of the building design problem. Results are presented for the pay-off characteris- tics between daily energy cost and zone thermal comfort, and for building capital cost and energy cost.

Natural  ventilation  represents  an  important  design strategy for school buildings in warm humid regions. It is an efficient way to improve students’ thermal comfort and productivity by natural means. Aiming to examine the influence of typical school buildings configuration on natural ventilation patterns, an investigation was conducted varying two important parameters (courtyard width and presence of pilotis) under two wind directions (45° and 90° in relation to the east facade).