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Advances in Energy Research Volume 5, Number 4, December 2017 , pages 321-339 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/eri.2018.5.4.321 |
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BEPAT: A platform for building energy assessment in energy smart homes and design optimization |
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Ehsan Kamel and Ali M. Memari
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| Abstract | ||
| Energy simulation tools can provide information on the amount of heat transfer through building envelope components, which are considered the main sources of heat loss in buildings. Therefore, it is important to improve the quality of outputs from energy simulation tools and also the process of obtaining them. In this paper, a new Building Energy Performance Assessment Tool (BEPAT) is introduced, which provides users with granular data related to heat transfer through every single wall, window, door, roof, and floor in a building and automatically saves all the related data in text files. This information can be used to identify the envelope components for thermal improvement through energy retrofit or during the design phase. The generated data can also be adopted in the design of energy smart homes, building design tools, and energy retrofit tools as a supplementary dataset. BEPAT is developed by modifying EnergyPlus source code as the energy simulation engine using C++, which only requires Input Data File (IDF) and weather file to perform the energy simulation and automatically provide detailed output. To validate the BEPAT results, a computer model is developed in Revit for use in BEPAT. Validating BEPAT\'s output with EnergyPlus \"advanced output\" shows a difference of less than 2% and thus establishing the capability of this tool to facilitate the provision of detailed output on the quantity of heat transfer through walls, fenestrations, roofs, and floors. | ||
| Key Words | ||
| building energy simulation; energy retrofit; energy smart home; energy monitoring; EnergyPlus | ||
| Address | ||
| Ehsan Kamel: Department of Energy Management, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York, U.S.A. Ali M. Memari: Department of Architectural Engineering and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. | ||
