You can simulate easily by HoneyBee(grasshopper plugin) and also the Designbuilder software.

Dear Mohammad

Greetings

EnergyPlus is the official building simulation software of the US Dept of Energy. It is available free to the whole world. It is actually a simulation engine.

The most compatible analysis tool with BIM and especially Revit is Green Building Good luck.

PFA

Link

https://energyplus.net/downloads

Good luck deat

Thanks for your answer dear Singh.

I think the selection or use of an energy simulation software should be tailored to the intended purpose or result needed. I would ascribe 'best' to any. Similar way to BIM software.

If you have Data, R studio is more accuracy for deep analysis or Matlab. EnergyPlus is good but I prefer R studio with H2O.

R studio:

https://www.rstudio.com/

http://h2o-release.s3.amazonaws.com/h2o/rel-wheeler/3/index.html

Thanks Abdo :)

That depends on what you want to study. Trnsys(including Trnbuild) started from solar equipment system. So It is good software if you want to input the building equipment system more correctly. Trnsys reinfored building part quite well and it's updating building part annually. But it's expensive.

EnergyPlus is freeware and it started from building energy simulation. It's reinforcing equipement parts. It use DOE-2 Engeen. Many archetectural engeener use energy plus instead of trnsys.

And if you want to co-simulation other programs(i.e. BCVTB, Matlab, Fluent), it doesn't matter what you use EnergyPlus or Trnsys.

I agree that certain set of conditions may dictate the choice to be made for.making decision

Thanks Lim for your complete answer.

Appreciated for your suggestion Dr.Gonzalo

Agree with previous comments, horses for courses. For high-performance buildings, PHPP could be a contender, as it has a large number of POEs attesting to the accuracy of its predictions for energy consumption. I am not aware of any other software with an appreciable number of real world testing to determine accuracy. But PHPP, as all other software, has limitations, so it depends on your research question. Energy+ is good, but comes with another set of limitations. What are you after?

Accuracy in a simulation software depends on, among other aspects the weather files, the capability of simulation engine ie. 8760 hours or less, and the factors that need to be simulated (for eg. some software provide better output for solar geometry while others are better for heat gain and heating/cooling load calculations. For a list of simulaiton software that the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in India recommends, see the link to ECBC 2017 (appendix E).

https://beeindia.gov.in/sites/default/files/tender_document/BEE_ECBC%202017.pdf

Dear Mohhamed

Depends on the objective of your simulation. For example, if you want to know if the Passive House indicators are reached, I would say that PHPP would be the better software. If you want to analyze the building performance developing an optimization analysis the best software is Energy Plus. For Lighting analysis, Radiance would be a good choice.

With best regards,

Eduardo Grala da Cunha.

Very appreciated for your comprehensive answers Dear Rosemeier, Amaral, Yehuda, da Cunha.

The question as stated is very generic. That's leading to a broad range of somewhat vague responses. Are you studying residential or commercial buildings? Are they new (in design) or existing (calibrated M&V)? No software is perfect. The old adage "garbage in, garbage out" holds true for even the best software. When attempting to model and design a net zero facility, you need accurate occupancy data and plug loads. Others have noted that some software can also estimate the renewable production, but you need to make sure the building simulation is representative of how it will be used--otherwise you might as well consider an asset-based score.

This list is from easiest to use to hardest use.

For ease of use I would suggest eQUEST (free) or Trane TRACE.

IES-VE is a good middle of the road option, but has a significant cost. It's based on ESP-r

EnergyPlus is an engine that you can edit through the IDF editor (modest free user interface) or there are better user interfaces such as Open Studio (free) or DesignBuilder.

TRNSYS and Modelica are more sophisticated models.

As was previously stated, it really depends on what you want to achieve with the model that should dictate the tool you're using.

Most tools have email list-servs and there's UnmetHours.com that is a good user forum.

Last note; as a manager of 8 energy modelers and being one myself, don't attempt to model something complex without training. The tools are generally sophisticated (some more than others) and have lots of ways to make mistakes. I have seen lots of poor quality models generated over the years by new users because they missed some critical component buried in the tool.

Good luck with your modeling.

Thank you Mr.Bacchus and Mr.Betz for your useful answers.

Would agree to Mr. Betz on idea that the tool should be picked by the level usage from easy to hard. It is important to understand what kind of aspects you are focusing to explore. My own experience and opinion about tools suitability and accuracy:

1.PHPP - Has very detailed inputs on building envelope (window frame area in high accuracy, linear and pointial thermal bridges etc.) which may be dificult to input in other tools. There is ways to input geometry by hand and from sketchup model. But it is important to mention that it is steady state calculation based on EN 13790 with know-how from Passive House Institute. The specific here is that German engineers prefers to be "at safe side" and that some times creates difficulties when innovative mechanical systems is used in assesment. Good thing is that last version has Quality assurance functionality already built in.

2. IES VE - with this tool there is possible to simulate the building and mechanical systems in variuos levels of detailness. Main diference from other tools (Energy+ and eQuest) that it is "one stop shop" for Life cycle impact analysis, CFD, Artificial and naturali light simulations. Great reusability for model geometry and coupling between diferent types of analysis tools.

3.TRNSYS - nothing is imposible with this tool. No boundaries for configurations and detailness of simulation model. This tool unbounded flexibility and posibilities to connect to external tools like Fluent, Matlab, ESP-r and ESS. But that brings the uncertainty and lots of risk how to combine accurate model from individual components.

Hope that will help to decide and choose.

Very appreciated Mr.Janusevicius

You can simulate easily by HoneyBee(grasshopper plugin) and also the Designbuilder software.

You can simulate your problem using ANSYS Fluent or COMSOL Multiphysics

According to my experiment, EnergyPlus is the best software.

https://energyplus.net/

Dear Dr Mohammad

I recommend you to read the attached article.

Best regards

Thanks from all of you guys. Your contributions were/are amazing. I just had another question regarding energy simulation (specifically thermal energy simulation) in buildings. is ANSYS a good software for doing so?

Hi,

I used RETScreen software to reach this aim.

Mohammad Rezvanpour I dont think ANSYS is good but TRNSYS is potential.

Energy plus is best so far. However it depends on the input weather files and building characteristics. and operations. Instead of using typical meteorological year the data from weather stations can can be used...

EnergyPlus is an excelllent option. Also, you could try to use DesignBuilder, which uses EnergyPlus as simulation engine, but you have to buy it.

Many people may have opinions about the software they have used in energy simulation of buildings. I prefer to offer you these investigations for you to study and decide which is the most appropriate software for your investigation.

· Energy performance building evaluation in Mediterranean countries: Comparison between software simulations and operating rating simulation.

· Geothermal energy piles and boreholes design with heat pump in a whole building simulation software.

· Estimation and validation of energy consumption in UK existing hotel building using dynamic simulation software.

· Energy and economic evaluation of retrofit actions on an existing historical building in the south of Italy by using a dynamic simulation software.

· Building energy conservation in atrium spaces based on ECOTECT simulation software in hot summer and cold winter zone in Iran.

· Energy efficiency using the simulation software of atrium thermal environment in residential building: a case study.

· Application of simulation software in the teaching of building energy efficiency.

· Design of sunshade board with south external window of residential building in Hangzhou based on software simulation analysis of energy saving.

· Carbon emissions calculation for non-residential buildings: Integration of daylighting analysis in dynamic energy simulation software.

Energyplus is a powerful tool for dynamic simulations.

Openstudio is also an interesting tool.

Regards.

Please check out 'Energy Simulation Software for Buildings: Review and Comparison' by Joana Sousa.

http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-923/paper08.pdf

The report reviews Energy Plus, the ESP-r, the IDA ICE, IES-VE, and TRNSYS. The report presents a summary table of software features including Solution of Simulation; Duration Calculus; Geometric Description; Renewable Energy Systems; Electrical Systems and Equipment; HVAC systems.

Sepideh Korsavi Thanks Sepideh.

You can use Energyplus as a trustable tool with DesignBuilder or Honeybee platform. But it use zonal strategy, Ansys has CFD. I'm not sure if DesignBuilder would be enough accurate to respond to your questions. You would better to make your question more clear that we an help you precisely.

Pourya Darvishi Alamdari Thank you Pourya.

Ana Vukadinovic

I recommend you to use Energyplus and IES-VE simulation softwares tools. that already validate in several context and the results was so interesting.

Abdelhakim Mesloub Thank you for your recommendation.

Tas Engineering by EDSL

IES-VE

DesignBuilder OR Honeybee (using EnergyPlus simulation engine)

Alternatively, if you need CFD based simulation then use ANSYS CFD tool

You have quite a pletora of options:

ANSYS Fluent or ANSYS CFX ( both are CFD packages)

DesignBuilder

Honeybee using EnergyPlus simulation engine

Simscale (open source and online tool)

and Openstudio

These are also interesting tools.

Hope that helps!

Chiemela Victor Amaechi Thank you very much.

Dear Mohammad Rezvanpour . The available tools such as EnergyPlus, IDA-ICE, etc. are usaually validated using

"Standard Method of Test for the Evaluation of Building Energy Analysis Computer Programs (ANSI/ASHRAE 2011)". The accuracy of you model depends on the quality of input data as well as calibration of the model based on measured data.

Therese Bergh Nitter Thanks, Dear Therese.

I'd be cautious, or at least clear in my understanding of ASHRAE standard 140.

It is an extensive test, but doesn't cover everything from an energy modeling perspective.

There are still thousands of ways to generate incorrect results from an energy model.

The whole modeling industry struggles with this fact and is predominantly using standard 140 compliant tools.

Quality benchmarks for both inputs and outputs are necessary to ensure quality.

Also, understanding that you're often using average weather data collected over many years. We of course have hot years and coolers years in addition to the general trend of increasing temperatures due to climate change.

A good quality uncalibrated energy model with typical climate data is accurate to within 20% of the measured energy value.

Remember energy models are primarily for comparisons, not predictions of performance. They can be used for performance predictions, but you'll need to put in 4x the effort/cost to achieve that quality.

Fred Betz Thanks for your comprehensive explanation Fred. That's right, the modelling is not to make exact decisions. It is just for comparison of the outcomes. Thanks for reminding us.

ANSYS

Dear Mohammad Rezvanpuor, to perform whole building energy simulation for your models, use Energy Analysis for Autodesk® Revit® which is BIM Revit-Insight. Its an accurate and validated tool...

Each softwear has its own data entry and data processing processing characteristics. Depending on the data you have and the type of analysis you want, you can choose one or the other software. In general, the sowears that demand the highest input values are those that offer results that are more adjusted to reality.

Energy Plus is the best software for you needs.

Dear see the link pasted below for whole building energy analysis.

https://www.buildingenergysoftwaretools.com/software-listing

According to me HAP, Energy Plus, TRNSYS, Design Builder are good tools. It will be good for you to perform comparison of these tool in the above pasted link...

All the best!

In my point of view as a thermician, Trnsys Building is the best one