The Weidt Group’s 30+ years of extensive experience in building design, energy modeling, and software development has culminated in an innovative software platform that makes it possible to create programmatically parametric models for consistent, replicable, high-speed simulations. We have named it WeidtSim℠. It is The Weidt Group’s Procedural Energy Model Builder.
This makes analyzing and optimizing energy choices for a large variety of applications, end users and data purposes more cost-effective, more consistent and more transparent and, ultimately allows for unprecedented data warehousing for long-term studies. Our innovative platform integrates the data needs of policy makers, utility program administrators, manufacturers and energy modelers. This shift to our proven modeling platform helps as utilities, federal agencies, state and local governments, and manufacturers struggle to:
+ In DepthEnergy Modeler’s Challenge
While all acknowledge quality data of actual energy performance is valuable, obtaining a statistically significant quantity with the required quality and proper classifications has been elusive. This is where building modeling and energy simulation serves a useful scientific purpose. Modeling and energy simulation allow for large amounts of buildings to be quickly and inexpensively created and analyzed to provide detailed feedback on what strategies work and when. This utility is the reason so many other science-based performance engineering industries, such as electronics and aerospace, utilize models and simulation. Just as with buildings, these industries have behind them large amounts of what has already been done, but has very little or nothing to study that represents the unlimited potential of what is possible. Modeling and simulation provide a means to test scientifically that, which has not yet been built, and a crystal ball to forecast what would happen if. It also provides mechanisms to measure that which is difficult or impossible to measure in the physical world.
Creating an energy simulation model takes a lot of time and can be prone to user errors. All the inputs required for an accurate model are rarely available so individual molders have to “fill in the blanks” for each energy model run. Within the energy modeling tools themselves, multiple paths can lead to a correct result for one circumstance but not all those paths will lead to a correct result in the next circumstance. Under these conditions, energy modeling leads to results that vary widely between modelers, and quite often lack repeatability even when the simulations are carried out by the same person.
Compounding these difficulties is the growing number of modeling rule-sets, baselines, credits and certification standards (protocols). This is especially true when design or research analyses require accountability to multiple protocols. All energy models are all created with incomplete information and eventually refined based on new information while attempting to maintain the continuity of its guiding protocols.
The Weidt Group’s Procedural Energy Model Builder enhances quality, consistency, transparency, and cost effectiveness across all constituencies. Moreover, the very high volume of analysis runs increases the certain value of energy efficiency measures. The Weidt Group’s Procedural Energy Model Builder is a:
Being web-based means users of these applications are not required to install anything, including simulation software, or use their local processing horsepower to run simulations or store data. Users of some applications are not required to be energy modelers or mechanical engineers. This effectively multiplies the use of qualified simulation and analyses by an order of magnitude.
Flexibility is embedded in our software and systems to intelligently fix missing inputs and alter key variables using a consistent and replicable protocol. Our methodology is designed to vastly improve analysis for sensitivity studies of energy codes, protocols, technologies, climate impacts, rate impacts or design changes while simultaneously holding constant those variables critical to an analysis, rating or incentive evaluation.
Fidelity in the context of an energy model speaks to the level of accuracy a model will produce for a specific analytical or decision-making purpose. Each type of use for an energy model has its own fidelity requirements and by extension defines the initial data requirements for each simulation.
Benchmarking and high-level screening tools for large populations of buildings effectively use lower fidelity models, which are naturally consistent with the information and time available for that scale of projects. Necessary details that would otherwise prevent full and complete DOE-2 and/or EnergyPlus models in a conventional approach are programmatically included through the platform’s algorithms at an appropriate level of fidelity. Code compliance tools require higher fidelity models and therefore require users to supply information that is more detailed. Still other applications, such as Energy Design Assistance programs, or performance contracting, require still higher fidelity for greater accuracy in the results. Research applications, according to their specific objectives, may require more or less fidelity in different aspects of their models.
Based on the level of information available and the fidelity of the result needed, each application uses our proprietary, context sensitive, techniques to create the fully-fledged models that can be run in DOE-2 or EnergyPlus. Context sensitive means that we use our vast array of existing simulation models and experience to asses and supply inputs that are needed. Context sensitivity includes building size, type, number of stories, systems types, hours of operation, global location and other variables.
Above all, the tools are easy to use and the data is secure. Rich Internet Applications (RIA) user interfaces (client) run inside a user’s browser. Each application also has a corresponding web service (service) dedicated to supporting the data and processing requests of the individual clients operated by users. Each web service uses on our eSimServer℠ simulation services (cloud service) to programmatically create models and manage the simulations behind the scenes.
The calculator built for the SB2030 project is simple, user-friendly, and extremely powerful. The calculator leverages 30+ years of data mined from real building simulations to intelligently estimate complex building parameters such as building materials, internal organization of space types, and building shape and orientation.
We ask the user for a minimum amount of data and use experience and powerful algorithms to fill in the blanks. This approach is the first time non-modelers have been able to access WeidtSim℠, The Weidt Group’s Procedural Energy Model Builder in an easy-to-use web interface.
The speed of the simulation allows designers and architects to try a number of scenarios and definitively decide which is the most appropriate for a project. The SB2030 Calculator can also be used to gather initial project data for use in the high-fidelity simulations required by utility companies for rebates.
Sustainable Buildings 2030 ►The Energy Analyzer II web application was built for McQuay to demonstrate the energy impacts of specific HVAC choices. First, the application helps a user create a virtual building that is as similar as possible to the planned building. Just enough building data is requested so that a realistic HVAC system can be constructed. The user interface is highly flexible and can run a simulation using default settings gleaned from 30+ years of simulation data.
A combination of historical simulation data and onsite measurement and verification data was used to increase the accuracy of the HVAC virtual system being modeled. Another feature added in EA II was the creation of an interactive representation of the HVAC system as it is built.
EA II is a unique hybrid approach to advanced energy analysis.
Energy Analyzer II ►The ECOnirman Whole Performance Tool is a high fidelity building analysis service. Created for the country of India through funding from the United States Agency for International Development, ECOnirman allows designers in India to define their design so that the software can derive, run and compare energy simulation models for both their design and its unique code baseline in order to forecast their building’s energy efficiency. This on-line code compliance application currently tracks the energy performance metrics of their buildings from design through permitting. In addition to allowing detailed entry of space usage, detailed HVAC specifications, and hourly building activity schedules, the ECOnirman tool allows the architect to specify the shape, structure, orientation, zone affiliation, and building materials. High fidelity ECOnirman energy simulations are done in less than a minute online using our eSimServer℠. This is a vast improvement over the hours that were once required. In many ways, ECOnirman exemplifies the state-of-the-art in virtual building modeling.
ECOnirman Whole Building Performance ►The State of Minnesota hired The Weidt Group to implement a mandatory public building benchmarking program. The goal was to identify those buildings that would yield the highest return on investment for energy-related building improvements.
A rich internet application (RIA) helps data owners enter and verify basic building information and energy consumption data by meter. The site then creates a predictive model of the building and compares the expected energy performance against actual consumption in real time.
The website also allows Data Owners to see the comparative performance of the entire list of buildings stack-ranked by comparison with the model. Reduction targets can be set and viewed against weather-normalized data to track energy reduction efforts.
The program has been adopted by the State of Iowa with other states expected to soon follow.
B3 Benchmarking ►