Has anyone worked with EnergyPlus simulation software?

Question

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/

I am researching about this software at the moment and I am wondering :

1. How many people actually know how to use this software? Please identify yourself if you do.
2. How many companies are using this to run energy saving simulations at the moment? Please list any you know.
3. Is it integrable with a GUI environment? Has anyone have experienced in implementing the integrations?

Any response welcomed. Thanks.

Answer 1

I am a collaborative developer for the EnergyPlus engine through a research project. It is one of the most robust building energy simulation engines built on 30+ years of building science research. Unfortunately it isn't widely adopted due to a lack of a good, free GUI - however, this is changing with two DOE-sponsored GUI Projects:
http://openstudio.nrel.gov/
http://openrevit.com/2011/03/the-holy-grail-energyplus-gui-with-bim-integration/

EnergyPlus is widely used the research field for building energy and will most likely become a player in the building design and operations. Open Studio is an open source project (thus the reason for its name) developed in Ruby.

Answer 2

I found out about EnergyPlus through BEopt/NREL and for my current projects have been using the idf editor to alter some of the input file schedules for the model I created with BEopt as they are not available through the BEopt GUI. I would only advise using BEopt for residential energy modelling. It seems like OpenStudio and sketchup would be more advisable for other applications.

I just found out about IBPSA yesterday as I am new to energy modelling and it seems like a very good resource like Alan said.

I don't know any FORTRAN yet so I can't help you on that.

But I found the following resource useful when creating a 8760 hour thermostat schedule through the idf editor. The following website includes the engineering and input-output reference guides for 8.0 and 8.1 in a convenient format.

http://bigladdersoftware.com/epx/docs/

Answer 3

1. Energyplus has become an engine as of late due to its lack of interface to some extent with the out-of-the-box install. Bentley AecoSIM, OpenStudio, DesignBuilder and forthcoming Simergy applications all use Energyplus as a calculation engine. Additionally the DIVA and Gherilla projects offer integration with Rhino/Grasshopper. Web implementations are available at http://modelmaker.nrel.gov/
2. Countless companies are using the application in one form or another. Again, most probably through a separate interface but IBPSA would be a good resource for users of the software and the companies they work for.
3. Its sole purpose was to make it integrate into a GUI or to be called as the means of primary calculations. Have a read through the development guide that come with the installation. Additionally, a more open source license structure has recently been implemented.