Building Energy Modeling Workshops

IBPSA-USA has developed a simulation-tool-neutral energy modeling training workshop in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and with support from ASHRAE. A first sold-out workshop was given in August 2010 at SimBuild in New York.

Now IBPSA-USA and ASHRAE are planning to co-present a series of workshops in coming months with instructors from RMI and IBPSA-USA. Stay tuned here and to our membership emails for announcements of upcoming workshops.

In the process of workshop development, RMI has developed freely-available tools to aid building modelers. Click here for the Energy Model Input Translator (EMIT) and the RMI LCCA (Life Cycle Cost Analysis) Tool.

About the Workshops

See future and previous workshops

Successful modeling requires knowing more than modeling software.

The main objective of the Building Energy Modeling Workshop is to improve modeling quality. Training focuses on topics critical to the effective delivery of energy modeling services, including:

ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007 and LEED TM
High performance, low energy buildings
New and existing building modeling
Modeling best practices
Modeling tools to support best practices
Modeling procedures for integrated design
Case studies for all design phases

Who should attend?

Energy modelers with at least 1 year experience
Energy modelers who have modeled at least 5 whole buildings
Graduate students in the building science or engineering fields
Mechanical engineers who oversee energy modeling projects
Anyone that can benefit from energy modeling lessons learned

Participants will receive:

Tools for generating input data from building characteristics
A life cycle cost assessment tool
A tool that demonstrates best practices modeling concepts to facilitate QC
Guidance on how to incorporate quality control procedures into the modeling process
Access to the Building Energy Modeling Body of Knowledge or "BEMbook", a wiki on-line primer covering the current state of knowledge and practice of building energy modeling
Access to the training materials presented

Development of the Workshops

IBPSA-USA developed the concept for the 2010 Building Energy Modeling Workshops and funded its development. IBPSA-USA issued an RFP hire an organization or person(s) to develop the workshops. The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) was the successful respondent, and developed the workshop materials with the help from Gail Hampsmire. RMI also contributed some of its own funds to the development effort. ASHRAE also contributed some funding. Relative funding for developing the workshop materials was split roughly at 45% each from IBPSA-USA and RMI, and 10% from ASHRAE. IBPSA-USA holds the copyright to the workshop materials and is committed to making the materials widely available at low cost or no cost. Thus, the workshop materials are available online under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non-Commercial-ShareAlike license.

About the Presenters

David Eldridge, PE, LEED AP BD+C, BEMP, BEAP, HBDP, for 10 years he has been a Project Manager at Grumman/Butkus Associates, in the Greater Chicago Area. His consulting work includes sustainable consulting services including analysis of energy efficient MEP design, energy modeling, performance of investment grade energy audits and LEED consulting services, tax deductions for energy-efficient commercial property. David's related experience includes serving on the IBPSA-USA Board of Directors since 2008, has been a Research Assistant at Oklahoma State University (1990-2001), and has served in the BLAST Support Office at the University of Illinois 1998-1999). He has degrees from Oklahoma State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1998-1999).

Shanta Tucker, LEED AP BD+C, PE, BEMP, is Atelier Ten's energy analysis practice leader, Shanta has twelve years of experience with the engineering and design of HVAC systems, as well as modeling and analysis techniques for optimizing energy efficiency of high performance building envelopes, mechanical, and electrical systems. She has worked on a variety of university, commercial, and institutional buildings that are known for their efficient energy performance. In addition, she has taught environmental systems courses for the undergraduate program at Pratt Institute's Architecture School, a graduate environmental studio at the Yale School of Architecture, an environmental technology course at Parsons School of Design and currently guest teaches at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture. Shanta is a LEED-Accredited Professional, an ASHRAE Certified Building Energy Modeling Professional (BEMP), a member of the ASHRAE Certification Committee, and vice-president of IBPSA-USA. She has studied at the Center for Energy Studies at the Ecole des Mines in Paris, holds a BS in Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of California.

Gail Hampsmire, PE, LEED AP, is sole proprietor of her new firm Low Energy Low Cost. Gail is a Mechanical Engineer with 11 years of consulting experience. Gail provides consulting to the USGBC (and GBCI) to review LEED submissions, and train new reviewers to evaluate Energy & Atmosphere Credit EAc1 submittals. During her tenure at CTG Energetics, she provided energy consulting services for more than 75 projects that achieved LEED certification. Energy models she developed range from a naturally ventilated 10,000 square foot LEED Platinum project to large high-rise condominium, high- rise office, and laboratory projects.

Erik Kolderup, PE, LEED AP has provided energy consulting services since 1990, serving as Vice President of Eley Associates and Associate Principal at Architectural Energy Corporation in San Francisco, before starting Kolderup Consulting in 2007. He has trained design professionals through organizations such as the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, PG&E, and the State of Hawaii, and has taught hundreds of engineers and architects in the use of VisualDOE. He is a Lecturer at Stanford University where he teaches a course on energy efficient building systems. He holds degrees in electrical engineering and industrial engineering from Stanford University and is an ASHRAE-certified Building Energy Modeling Professional.

Aleka Pappas, EIT, BEMP, LEED AP, is a building energy engineer and project manager for Group14 Engineering (formerly Enermodal Engineering) in Denver, with over 10 years experience working in both the architectural and engineering fields. She is an expert in building energy simulation softwares such as DOE-2/eQuest, EnergyPlus, Ecotect, daylight modeling, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Aleka works with design teams to integrate energy and resource efficiency into commercial buildings ranging from offices to academic laboratories. Aleka also manages Group14 Engineering’s contract with the local utility to provide consulting for their Energy Design Assistance demand side management program.

Ellen Franconi, Ph.D. LEED AP, is a Senior Consultant with RMI. Ellen has 25-years of experience in building systems engineering through her work with research institutes and private industry. She is a long time member of the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol Committee and is an M&V content expert for LEED for the USGBC. In recent work within the private sector, Ellen developed and formalized methods to deliver energy modeling services to support sustainable design assistance for over 50 commercial building projects. Ellen led the development of in-house pre- and post- processing tools, provided trainings for new analysts, and completed quality assurance reviews. One of her modeling claims to fame is performing over 3500 DOE-2 runs to characterize the entire commercial building sector.

Kendra Tupper, PE, LEED AP, is a Senior Consultant with RMI. Kendra has a degree in a Mechanical Engineering and a Masters Degree in Building Systems Engineering. Kendra worked in the solar industry and more recently as a mechanical engineer and project manager with the building energy analysis team at WSP Flack + Kurtz. While at Flack + Kurtz, Kendra successfully started the in-house energy modeling group and provided in- house trainings to new analysts. Kendra came to RMI to lead their energy modeling services. For the past 2 years, Kendra has trained over 10 staff members in various energy modeling tools.

Below are some photos from the first workshop at SimBuild 2010 in NY.