The energy, environmental, and societal challenges of the twenty-first century are here; they are crystal clear; and they are daunting. Our responses to those challenges are less clear, but one component at least is obvious—we need a better building stock, one that uses less energy, provides greater comfort and security, and houses and supports the economic activity of a rapidly growing and urbanizing population.
One of the most powerful tools in our collective belts is building energy modeling (BEM), physics-based software simulation of building energy use given a description of the physical building, its use patterns, and prevailing weather conditions. BEM is a sine qua non tool for designing and operating buildings to the levels of energy efficiency that our future and present require. According to the AIA 2030 Commitment report, buildings designed using BEM use 20% less
energy than those designed without it. BEM is also instrumental in developing and updating the codes, standards, certificates, and financial incentive infrastructure that supports energy efficiency in all building projects, including those that don’t directly use BEM.
The OpenStudio project has been a driving force in the evolution of BTO’s BEM program. OpenStudio was BTO’s first truly open-source software project, a strategic direction that has influenced BTO’s entire BEM portfolio. Open-source is not an altruistic emergent enterprise. Successful open-source projects are funded, centrally managed, and resemble proprietary software projects in many structural and operational ways. Source control. Code reviews. Regression testing. Bug reporting and fixing. Pre-feature documentation. Post-feature documentation. The full Monty.