Building Energy Analysis Approach

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Building Energy Analysis Approach
DOE-2 Models

Building Energy Analysis Approach

GARD Analytics uses building energy simulation programs such as DOE-2 and EnergyPlus to perform a variety of analyses for a single building or a large number of buildings. The general approach used consists of the following tasks:

Identify applications for detailed simulations based on a review of key operating characteristics.
Identify system configurations and operating strategies that meet the anticipated requirements of the applications identified.
Model system configurations identified above with software that utilizes an hourly simulation program as a calculation engine.
Perform simulations and summarize results.
Compute environmental impacts, if applicable.
Perform economic analysis (i.e., life cycle cost, net present value, payback period, etc.).
Perform a comprehensive quality analysis of the simulation results.
Present simulation results.

Parametric Analysis

A parametric analysis technique allows the user to select multiple parameters that will be varied in all permutations. For numeric entries, such as size or capacity, the values would be specified as the maximum, minimum, and number of steps to explore. For parameters that have a list of options, the options in the list that will be included are specified. The results of a parametric analysis typically contain a large number of cases. Output can be dumped to data files for further computations and preparation of results summaries.

Orthogonal Analysis

We frequently employ an “orthogonal” analysis technique for conducting the DOE-2 simulations. Orthogonal in this case means that key variables were considered independent “axes” and were developed and tested individually. Simulations are conducted for all permutations and the answers combined statistically. The orthogonal approach has many advantages in terms of development effort and its comprehensive coverage and is possible due to two main reasons: · Many comparative analyses incorporate major variables which are independent of one another; and · DOE-2 has built-in macros, essentially a simple programming language, that allow major parameters, such as building type, to affect a large range of parameters. The entire analysis can often be conducted using a single DOE-2 file that has extensively parameterized and tested.

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