English

Building energy simulation is playing an increasingly important role in building energy codes. This paper investigates the important underlying issues affecting the use of building energy simulation for enhancing building energy codes. The background and development of building energy codes is described. The rationale and important issues of performance- based building energy codes are explained. The practical building design and essential simulation skills are presented. Finally, the key factors affecting the  effectiveness  and  validity  of  the  simulation approach are discussed.

External  shading  devices  have  been  utilized  very extensively in residential buildings in the tropics to reduce the amount of solar radiation entering into the buildings. However, this will affect the availability of daylight   for   interior   lighting   as   well   as   natural ventilation  for  passive cooling and thermal comfort. This  paper  discusses  the  impacts  of  six  different types  of  external  shading  device  on  a  residential building in Singapore.

There is a need for Dutch design support tools for building services that can be used in early design stages. TNO Building and Construction Research has therefore initiated the research project described here. The project will result in guidelines for design support tools for early design of building services in the Netherlands. These tools should make it possible to quickly compare alternative conceptual design solutions and to visualize possible consequences of the underlying design decisions.

Recent  advances  in  mathematical  models,  computer processors and OOP compilers have been motivating the development of the Domus program for whole-building hygrothermal simulation. The Domus program for simulation of multi-zone buildings has been developed in c++ language under C++ Builder environment, which is a fast and precise easy-to-use compiler. The program is available on  the  PC platform under Windows 9x and NT operating systems. The user interface consists of a series of windows in which the user can enter  the  relevant input data and review the results.

In the context of a european project dealing with the issue of transport safety improvement in fog conditions, an experimental building has been constructed on the FUL campus, in the southern part of Belgium.

DIAL-Europe  is  the  final  product  of  a  three  year European project that ended in March 2003. During this project the “Swiss” tool LesoDIAL, developed during the IEA task 21 in 1999, has been expanded with, among other items, an artificial lighting module. The objective of this module is to support artificial lighting design for architects in the early  design stage.

This   paper   describes   a   simulation   model   for predicting end-use energy in residential sectors of a city or region. In this model, the annual energy consumption of a dwelling is simulated from the occupants’ schedule of living activities, weather data and energy efficiencies of appliances and dwellings. By summing up the simulation results for various household categories, total energy consumption for the residential sector in a region can be estimated. In this paper, the energy consumption for Osaka City is simulated by this model. The result is compared with statistical data.

This   paper   presents   a   district   energy   system simulation model in which the energy flow of a district is modeled as the sum of total energy flow in each building. By using this model, various kinds of energy supply systems can be evaluated taking into account the relationship among performance  of energy supply systems, available technologies, and conditions of targeted districts, such as characteristics of energy demand, size and arrangement of buildings.

A set of geometry translation tools and capabilities have been developed to increase base efficiencies in the simulation of both the internal and external environment of buildings. The tools allows us to build a 3D model in one package and then translate the geometry for use in a number of other simulation packages that we use. Though not a unique concept, it does allow the use of preferred software for undertaking the building of the 3D model.

The computer software AUSSSM TOOL, originating from the methodology of the revised-Architectural- Urban-Soil-Simultaneous Simulation Model (revised-AUSSSM), was developed by adopting the Graphical User Interface (GUI) features to support users, who can use the interactive computer display for parameter settings, simulating, visualizing, and reporting the numerical calculation results instead of complicated programming. The purpose of the AUSSSM TOOL is to determine quantitative parameters such as air temperature, exhaustive heat from air conditioning systems, energy heat balance, etc.