English

This paper describes a new data set appropriate for empirical validation of whole-building energy simulation software. The data has been created using artificial and natural climate configurations in the empirically characterized ETNA (Essais Thermiques en climat Naturel et Artificiel) test cells of an electric utility in France. This data set includes parametric variations based on the Building Energy Simulation Test and Diagnostic Method (BESTEST) comparative test methodology developed at a national laboratory in the United States

This paper discusses an experience of teaching building simulation to students in a small class of a Masters program in an architecture school. This was a course in assessing building performance using an hourly thermal simulation program. Students were required to use the program to assess the comfort and energy performance of the building they were designing.

This paper analyses the office demand connected to the use of different dynamic window and lighting control systems with the aim to optimize their usage aspects and characteristics from both visual and energy efficiency viewpoints. The approach is based on an improvement of the non-commercial hourly simulation program IENUS. Results are referred to a typical office located in Mediterranean climate

Significant R&D work has been on going in the development of integrated software environments that support building energy simulation. Software interfaces have been developed in both academic and industrial settings that support an integrated approach to the development of building energy simulation models.

An Excel macro-programming model of the thermal behaviour of open and enclosed swimming pools is run in seven different scenarios of increasing complexity. To secure a swimming season for the whole year, the use of a tent, a battery of collectors and auxiliary heat, to cope with winter, is advice. The tent can be removed or vented from November to March and must be tightly closed the rest of the year. An area of collectors equal to half the pool area will avoid excessive overheat and will assure the use of the pool in the morning during summer.

Building design and control applications can benefit from daylight simulation. Currently, most daylight simulation applications work with simplified sky luminance models.

Energy and environment issues such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and ecological-friendly buildings are increasingly of interest in the Korean housing market. A number of technologies are considered appropriate in the Korean context, including roof-top gardens, low energy underfloor heating and renewable energy (RE) systems. To successfully adopt such technologies into domestic buildings, it is important to identify suitable technology types and capacities at an early design stage and effectively to integrate them in  the building.

This paper critically examines the use of Analytic Target Cascading as a multi-level, hierarchical design optimization model for formulating simulation-based design tasks in architecture. A case study is used to illustrate the main steps involved in posing and solving an ATC problem. With an emphasis on problem formulation, this study is used as the basis of highlighting issues confronted while posing design analysis problems in a model-based systems framework. 

This paper proposes an automated commissioning method for air-conditioning systems through comparing the measured energy consumption with the simulated energy consumption, which is simulated using a model newly developed through fitting manufacturer’s specification data. This commissioning method is verified using a Gas-engine Heat Pump (GHP) air-conditioning system. The results show that this method can verify whether a real air-conditioning system is performing in conformity with the design intent or not.

Heating Canadian homes is an energy intensive endeavour. Factors such as the northerly climate and dispersed population cannot be avoided but inefficiencies with heating system design can. The mismatch between the grade of heat required to heat a home and that produced by conventional heat sources results in large amounts of wasted energy and exergy. Low–grade heating sources, such as ground source heat pumps, when combined with low-temperature distribution systems offer a more suitable and efficient means of heating homes.