COMBINE is a file utility program developed by Jeff Hirsch of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories for use with the DOE2.1C building energy simulation program. COMBINE merges the data arrays that are passed from the SYSTEMS simulation subprogram to the PLANTS simulation subprogram in DOE2.1C. To date, it has not received extensive publicity but it is a program that expands the applications and power of DOE2.1C and it deserves recognition as one of the most practical building energy simulation innovations of the past several years.

This paper describes a recently developed, multi-chromatic lighting simulation model, known by the acronym DIM (Digital Illumination Model). DIM accepts a description of a zones geometry, surface finishes, contents and natural and artificial light sources. A multi-chromatic raytracking scheme is then employed to obtain the surface spectral luminance distribution corresponding to each light source. Outputs from the model include data on planar illuminance and coloured perspective images.

Over the past 5 years, Dubin-Bloome Associates (DBA) and Ross & Baruzzini, Inc. (R&B) have jointly been working on a project to determine the relationship of the air conditioning load caused by building lighting with time. Our effort has been funded by the Electric Power Research Institute. An initial literature search determined that the basis of existing calculation methods was data generated by Mitalas in the 1950's for a very limited set of experiments.

The present American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standard 62-1981 "Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality" is being revised. The recommended ventilation rate will be increased four-fold from 2.5 I/s/person to 10.0 I/s/person. The immediate response to this proposal is that the energy consumption and costs will parallel this increase and rise dramatically. It is the intent of this paper to provide a better understanding of the actual effect of the changes to the ASHRAE standard.

The task is for COMIS to develop a reliable and well running multizone infiltration model on a modular base. This model does not only take crack flow into account, but also covers flow through large openings, single sided ventilation, cross ventilation and HVAC-systems. The model contains a large number of modules, which are peripheral to a steering program. COMIS can be used as a basis for future expansions in order to increase the capabilities of simulating buildings or their type of construction, in the field of ventilation, heat flow and spread of pollutants.

Air enthalpy control strategy, or often known as free cooling, has been very effective in conserving building air-conditioning power consumptions-in moderate climatic areas. However, it stands for a challenge on its application in hot and humid areas, such as in Taiwan, where outdoor air enthalpies are constantly high. Three control schemes, namely, those using temperature control (economizer, or T-control), enthalpy control (H-control), and the Modified temperature control (MTcontrol) were studied in this paper.

The current generation of building simulation software is based upon separate building and mechanical system simulations. While separate simulations are adequate for some buildings, there are many configurations which require a simultaneous simulation to completely model the interactions between the building and mechanical systems. Work is underway to develop a new version of the Building Loads Analysis and System Thermodynamics (BLAST) [1] energy analysis program which will simulate buildings and mechanical systems simultaneously.

Since methods incorporating the time value of money are the only ones that give an accurate picture of life costs of a system, they are the only methods appropriate for the analysis of building lighting systems. However, these procedures (such as the present worth method) and the algorithms for employing them are not without shortcomings. One problem with traditional methods is that they employ single point estimates as input values and result in a single value that is supposed to represent the present worth of the system.

Some details of the optimization work conducted over the last five years in a high rise office complex are described. The solution of the many nonlinear equations representing the building environmental system in real time necessitates very fast algorithms and complete mapping of the feasible regions. The authors experiments in this area are outlined. Models for a chilled water system and an unusual application to an existing dual duct system are given as examples of a general nonlinear approach.

In a typical computer-based building energy management system (BEMS) for HVAC applications, pertinent variables such as pressure, temperature, fluid flow rate, valve and damper positions and the open/close status of the flow control devices, are measured for control and energy monitoring purposes. In addition to these primary functions, the data from the measurements can also be used to detect the abnormal performance of the HVAC system and possible equipment malfunction.