BUILDING ENERGY SIMULATION. A Workbook Using DesignBuilder™

Table of Contents

1. Getting Started with Energy Simulation 
Building Energy Simulation 
What Is Needed for Energy Simulation 
How Simulation Software Works 
Tutorial 1.1: Opening and simulating an example file 
Tutorial 1.2: Creating a single-zone model
Tutorial 1.3: Evaluating the Impact of building location and orientation 
Tutorial 1.4: Evaluating the impact of opaque envelope components 
Tutorial 1.5: Evaluating the impact of WWR and glass type 
Tutorial 1.6: Evaluating the impact of occupancy density 
Tutorial 1.7: Evaluating the impact of space activity 
Tutorial 1.8: Evaluating the impact of lighting and equipment power 
Tutorial 1.9: Evaluating the impact of daylight controls 
Tutorial 1.10: Evaluating the impact of setpoint temperature 
Tutorial 1.11: Evaluating the impact of fresh air supply 
2. Geometry of Buildings 
Tutorial 2.1: Defining thermal zoning for a building 
Tutorial 2.2: Evaluating the effect of a zone multiplier 
Tutorial 2.3: Evaluating the impact of the aspect ratio 
Tutorial 2.4: Evaluating the impact of adjacency of the surface 
3. Material and Construction 
Tutorial 3.1: Evaluating the effect of lightweight and heavyweight construction 
Tutorial 3.2: Evaluating the impact of roof insulation 
Tutorial 3.3: Evaluating the impact of the position of roof insulation 
Tutorial 3.4: Evaluating the impact of the air gap between roof layers 
Tutorial 3.5: Evaluating the impact of surface reflectance 
Tutorial 3.6: Evaluating the impact of roof underdeck radiant barrier 
Tutorial 3.7: Evaluating the impact of a green roof 
Tutorial 3.8: Evaluating the impact phase change material (PCM) in external wall 
4. Openings and Shading 
Tutorial 4.1: Evaluating the impact of window-to-wall ratio and glazing type 
Tutorial 4.2: Evaluating the impact of overhangs and fins 
Tutorial 4.3: Evaluating the impact of internal operable shades 
Tutorial 4.4: Evaluating the impact of electrochromic switchable glazing on windows solar gains 
5. Lighting and Controls 
Tutorial 5.1: Evaluating the impact of daylighting-based controls 
Tutorial 5.2: Evaluating the impact of daylight sensor placement 
Tutorial 5.3: Evaluating the impact of window external shades and WWR on daylight performance
6. Heating and Cooling Design 
Tutorial 6.1: Evaluating the impact of temperature control types 
Tutorial 6.2: Evaluating the impact of design day selection 
Tutorial 6.3: Evaluating the impact of the airflow calculation method 
7. Unitary HVAC Systems 
Tutorial 7.1: Evaluating the impact of unitary air conditioner Coefficient of Performance (COP) 
Tutorial 7.2: Evaluating the impact of the fan efficiency of a unitary air-conditioning system 
Tutorial 7.3: Evaluating the impact of fan pressure rise 
Tutorial 7.4: Evaluating Impact of heat pumps on heating energy consumption 
8. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning: Central Water Side 
Tutorial 8.1: Evaluating the impact of air- and water-cooled chillers 
Tutorial 8.2: Evaluating the impact of variable speed drive (VSD) on a chiller 
Tutorial 8.3: Evaluating the impact of VSD on a chilled-water pump 
Tutorial 8.4: Evaluating the impact of a cooling tower fan type 
Tutorial 8.5: Evaluating the impact of condenser water pump with a VSD 
Tutorial 8.6: Evaluating the impact of boiler nominal thermal efficiency 
Tutorial 8.7: Evaluating impact of chiller sequencing 
Tutorial 8.8: Evaluating impact of thermal storage and time-of-use tariff 
9. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning: Central Air Side 
Tutorial 9.1: Evaluating the impact of an air-side economiser 
Tutorial 9.2: Evaluating the impact of a supply air fan operating mode during unoccupied hours 
Tutorial 9.3: Evaluating the impact of heat recovery between fresh and exhaust air 
Tutorial 9.4: Evaluating Impact of Variable-Refrigerant-Flow (VRF) system 
Tutorial 9.5: Evaluating Impact of Demand Control Ventilation 
10. Natural Ventilation 
Tutorial 10.1: Evaluating the impact of wind speed on natural ventilation 
Tutorial 10.2: Evaluating the impact of natural ventilation with constant wind speed and direction 
Tutorial 10.3: Evaluating the impact of window opening and closing schedule 
Tutorial 10.4: Evaluating the impact of window opening control based on temperature 
Tutorial 10.5: Evaluating the impact of window opening area modulation on natural ventilation 
Tutorial 10.6: Evaluating the impact of mixed-mode operation 
11. Simulation Parameters 
Tutorial 11.1: Evaluating the impact of time steps per hour on run time 
Tutorial 11.2: Evaluating the impact of the solar distribution algorithm 
Tutorial 11.3: Evaluating the impact of the solution algorithm 
Tutorial 11.4: Evaluating the effect of the inside convection algorithm 
Tutorial 11.5: Evaluating the impact of the shadowing interval 
12. Renewable Energy System 
Tutorial 12.1: Evaluating the impact of Photovoltaic (PV) Panel tilt angle 
Tutorial 12.2: Evaluating the impact of shading from rooftop PV panels 
Tutorial 12.3: Evaluating the impact of cell efficiency of PV panels
Tutorial 12.4: Evaluating the performance of glazing-integrated PV panels 
Tutorial 12.5: Evaluatingthe performance of opaque building-integrated PV panels    
13. Costing, Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis 
Tutorial 13.1: Selecting glazing using cost-benefit analysis 
Tutorial 13.2: Selecting a HVAC system using cost-benefit analysis 
Tutorial 13.3: Performing sensitivity and uncertainty analysis    
14. Building Energy Code Compliance 
Tutorial 14.1: Modelling building performance in four orientations 
Tutorial 14.2: Creating the base-case external wall for ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010 Appendix G 
Tutorial 14.3: Modelling flush windows for the base case 
Tutorial 14.4: Selecting a HVAC system for the base case 
Tutorial 14.5: Calculating fan power for the base case 
Tutorial 14.6: Understanding fan cycling 
Tutorial 14.7: Specifying room-air-to-supply-air temperature difference 
Tutorial 14.8: Number of chillers in the base case 
Tutorial 14.9: Defining the chilled-water supply temperature reset for the base case 
Tutorial 14.10: Type and number of boilers for the base case 
Tutorial 14.11: Defining the hot-water supply temperature reset 
Tutorial 14.12: Hot-water pumps 
Tutorial 14.13: Defining exhaust air energy recovery parameters 
Tutorial 14.14: Defining economiser parameters 
Tutorial 14.15: Finding unmet hours after simulation 
Tutorial 14.16: Generating the performance rating method compliance report in DesignBuilder 
Tutorial 14.17: Finding process load for the base case 
Tutorial 14.18: Getting the ASHRAE 62.1 standard summary in DesignBuilder 
Tutorial 14.19: Automating baseline building model creation 
Reference