Energy Simulation Softwares

Carolina Vergnano

LEED AP

Concremat

LEEDuser Basic Member

110 thumbs up

December 9, 2011

Hello everyone, We are looking for an energy simulation software. Please, could anyone give some feedback about 2 softwares (Design Builder and IES VE-Pro)? Also, if someone knows about any other software. Could you share, please? Thanks,

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Marcus Sheffer

LEED Fellow

7group / Energy Opportunities

LEEDuser Expert

4454 thumbs up

Fri, 12/09/2011 - 15:52

Two very different choices both with strengths and weaknesses. DB runs on Energy Plus and IES runs on Apache (for energy). EP is probably the most robust modeling software but has issues with user-friendliness even with the latest version of DB. EP is US based. I don't have direct experience with IES but it comes out of the UK. We use eQUEST for most projects. It is free but does not have much technical support.

Linda Wan

Project Engineer

TRC Energy Services

LEEDuser Basic Member

9 thumbs up

Tue, 12/20/2011 - 17:16

IES is very robust as well, and has a steep learning curve. It's very good if you have complex systems and/or complex geometry. You can have very detailed HVAC controls. I would recommend using it if you can't model your system in other programs or if you need to squeeze out as many EAc1 points as possible.