Origins of Analysis Methods in Energy Simulation Programs Used for High Performance Commercial Buildings

Abstract

Current designs of high performance buildings utilize hourly building energy simulations of complex, interacting systems. Such simulations need to quantify the benefits of numerous features including: thermal mass, HVAC systems and, in some cases, special features such as active and passive solar systems, photovoltaic systems, and lighting and daylighting systems. Unfortunately, many high performance buildings today do not perform the way they were simulated. One potential reason for this discrepancy is that designers using the simulation programs do not understand the analysis methods that the programs are based on and therefore they may have unreasonable expectations about the system performance or use.

The purpose of this study is to trace the origins of a variety of simulation programs and the analysis methods used in the programs to analyze high performance buildings in the United States. Such an analysis is important to better understand the capabilities of the simulation programs so they can be used more accurately to simulate the performance of an intended design. The goal of this study is to help explain the origins of the analysis methods used in whole-building energy simulation, solar system analysis simulation or design, and lighting and daylighting analysis simulation programs. A comprehensive history diagram or genealogy chart, which resolves discrepancies between the diagrams of previous studies, has been provided to support the explanations for the above mentioned simulation programs.