News and Updates from the IBPSA-USA Community.

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IBPSA-USA News

IBPSA-USA Web Meeting to Collect Feedback on DOE Energy Modeling Roadmap

You are invited to participate in an IBPSA-USA response to the Department of Energy request for feedback on their Energy Modeling Roadmap. The roadmap will be used by the DOE to prioritize building energy modeling related funding.

IBPSA-USA will host a live online-moderated discussion. Register here to participate.

Thurs., March 10, 2016 at 6-7:30 PM EST / 3-4:30 PM PST

Learn more about the meeting at the IBPSA-USA website.

Review: IBPSA-USA Winter Meeting in Orlando

IBPSA-USA members and friends gathered at Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar for our 2016 Winter meeting, which was held Saturday, January 23rd--during the 2016 ASHRAE Winter Conference. More than 70 attendees showed up to hear and share IBPSA-USA news, and to enjoy the guest presenters for the evening. Read more about the event, with photos.

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Recorded Webinar: Weather Data for Energy Modeling

See a recording of the latest Chicago Chapter of IBPSA-USA webinar titled “Weather Data for Energy Modeling." Every energy model depends on good, accurate weather data. This webinar offered presentations from three experts discussing a range of topics, from how weather files are developed, to selecting and using the "right" weather data file.

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Review - The Simulation Horizon: Research Conference Roundup

The IBPSA-USA Boston Chapter, and the IBPSA-USA Research Committee, held this event on Feb., 10th. Every year exciting new research about building performance simulation is introduced at conferences. Unfortunately, most simulation professionals aren't able to participate. See a recording of the webcast, and hear what members who've attended recent industry events had to share.

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Unmet Hours Q4: Continued Steady User Growth

Unmet Hours has released a Usage Statistic Report for Q4 of 2015--showing continued growth and involvement from users. See the full report on the IBPSA-USA website.

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IBPSA-USA Research Committee Review: Focus Group on Emerging Trends in Building Simulation

IBPSA-USA members met Jan. 27th -- during the ASHRAE Winter Conference in Orlando -- to discuss the needs of building simulation developers and practitioners. The focus group was hosted by the Research Committee, and you can read more about the event, plus review/comment on their findings report, at the committee's website under "Activities."

Read more.

Other News:

The DOE's Building Technologies Office is Seeking Feedback on Draft Building Energy Modeling Roadmap

The Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office (BTO) is seeking input from stakeholders (until April 1st) on a draft Building Energy Modeling Roadmap. The draft Roadmap provides background and context, then outlines steps that BTO’s contractor recommends to help increase the use of BEM tools for the design and operation of energy-efficient buildings.

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BTO Releases Final Multi-Year Program Plan and Logic Models

The DOE's Building Technologies Office (BTO) has released its Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP) for Fiscal Years 2016-2020. The MYPP provides a broad overview of the energy use in the buildings sector, the opportunities for cost-effective energy savings, the barriers to their achievement, and BTO’s strategies and goals for achieving significant reductions in building energy use intensity.

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Post-Doc Opportunities at DOE's Building Technologies Office in Washington, DC

DOE’s Building Technologies Office has three post-doc openings. All three positions are in Washington, DC, and all start June 1, 2016. The application deadline for all three is March 15, 2016.

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Enter the ASHRAE App Contest

Do you have an app for a mobile device that meets a building technology or industrial application design or operations need? If so this is your chance to have your app branded by ASHRAE, promoted by ASHRAE, and licensed to use ASHRAE content.

Read more.

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Upcoming Trainings

IBPSA-USA Trainings:

June 25: Energy Modeling Best Practices and Applications - ASHRAE Annual Conference in St. Louis

Co-Sponsored by IBPSA-USA, this course covers the fundamentals of building energy modeling and explains how to use modeling to guide design decisions, with an emphasis on HVAC. This course isn't yet available for registration. But you can learn more about this course, and others, while registering for the 2016 ASHRAE Annual Conference.

Read more.

Other Trainings:

February 24: Intermediate HVAC Modeling in eQuest

This one-day training covers intermediate air-side HVAC modeling in eQUEST. Three broad system types are discussed: packaged terminal air conditioners, single zone air handlers including packaged rooftop units, and multiple zone VAV systems.

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February 25: Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings and eTool Life Cycle Design Modeling

Life Cycle Design is an integrative design method that uses life cycle assessment to assess every single impact of a product or process over its entire life span. For the built environment, life cycle assessment quantifies and measures all aspects of the environmental impacts of a project, and identifies the hotspots that can be improved.

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February 25-26: EnergyPlus for Practitioners

Big Ladder Software is pleased to announce a new 2-day training workshop for EnergyPlus to be held in conjunction with Xcel Energy in Denver, CO. The workshop will focus on the needs of the energy modeling practitioner in order to get you up to speed and highly productive with EnergyPlus as quickly as possible. Space is limited so register now!

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March 14-May 8: Eight Week Energy Modeling in eQuest Course

Roll up your sleeves and learn energy modeling with P.E., MIT grad, and LEED Fellow, Chris Schaffner. This is a comprehensive commercial energy modeling course for professionals that teaches you to master eQuest, a powerful (free) energy modeling tool. The course is hands-on; you're actually going to build and run energy models.

Read more.

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Upcoming Events

IBPSA-USA Events:

August 10-12: ASHRAE and IBPSA-USA SimBuild 2016 Conference - Building Performance Modeling

ASHRAE and IBPSA-USA announce a second, co-organized conference that encompasses the ASHRAE Energy Modeling and IBPSA-USA SimBuild Conferences. The conference will cover two-and-a-half days and will be preceded by two days of training seminars and short courses.

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Other Events:

February 29-March 2: RESNET Conference 2016

Join DOE leaders Sam Rashkin and Eric Werling along with other Building America experts at the 2016 Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) Building Performance Conference. The conference is a national forum that addresses home energy ratings, existing home retrofits, building codes, and energy policy.

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March 2-4: Better Buildings: Better Business Wisconsin Conference

Learn about the latest residential building trends and practical approaches at the Better Buildings: Better Business Conference. Managed by Seventhwave (formerly ECW), the conference provides relevant information you need to keep your edge as a leading building professional.

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March 8-10: Building Energy 2016

The Building Energy Conference & Trade Show is the Northeast's premier gathering for sustainable design, green building, and renewable energy professionals. Produced by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), the annual event attracts more than 3,500 practitioners working together to advance the adoption of sustainable energy practices in the built environment.

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Tools and Resources

Three Parametric Analysis Tools From Pattern r+d

Pattern r+d presented a Performance.Network webinar -- titled "Parametric Analysis with Pattern r+d" -- on 2/11/2016. Available as a free download are 3 parametric analysis tools from the consultancy. Learn more about the tools and how you can download them.

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Free 90.1 Energy Cost Budget Tool From ASHRAE

The 90.1 ECB web application is a tool for modeling compliance with ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2010, using the Energy Cost Budget (ECB) method in the standard. Input your project parameters and then calculate your proposed design's projected performance and compliance—no need to build your own spreadsheet.

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Performance.Network Webinar Subscriptions Now Available

Respondents to the 2016 Performance.Network survey had two requests: 1. Make it even more affordable & 2. Add a subscription plan. You can now join a subscription plan to reduce webinar costs by 67%, with unlimited access to live webinars and a library of webinar recordings on building performance topics.

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U.S. Department of Energy's Building Energy Asset Score Tool

The DOE's Building Energy Asset Score (Asset Score) is a national standardized tool for assessing the physical and structural energy efficiency of commercial and multifamily residential buildings. The Asset Score generates a simple energy efficiency rating that enables comparison among buildings, and identifies opportunities to invest in energy efficiency upgrades.

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