Joel’s career has focused since 1991 on testing and validation of BEM simulation programs, primarily as a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy via Argonne National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This includes being the lead author or a primary co-author of most of the test suites that comprise ASHRAE Standard 140, Method of Test for Evaluating Building Performance Simulation Software. Joel’s related professional activities include:
- Standard 140 project committee (SSPC 140): past-Chair (2014 – 2023), past-Vice Chair (2001 – 2014), and current voting member
- Contributor since 2005 to several editions of ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals (Chapter 19, Energy Estimating and Modeling Methods)
- Recidivist voting member on ASHRAE Technical Committee 4.7 (Energy Calculations), and 4.7 Standards Subcommittee Chair.
And a notable accomplishment that blended IBPSA with his long-time music hobby:
- Winner of music composition competition for Building Simulation 2021 (Bruges, Belgium), where the city’s lead carillonneur played the composition at the Bruges old-city-center bell tower. (I admit it – I’ve always enjoyed the professional aspect of the conferences, but that one was special.)
Also for IBPSA, in addition to volunteer activities listed below, Joel has presented papers on software validation and testing at most of the IBPSA international conferences since 1997, and more recently done several seminar presentations at the IBPSA USA-SimBuild conferences.
How long have you been a member of IBPSA-USA?
A long time …. I went to my first international IBPSA conference in 1995, so it could go back that far, but a safer bet is ca. 2000.
Why did you join IBPSA-USA?
It’s where our industry convenes (domestic and international). As a software testing geek, IBPSA-USA gatherings – either semi-annual meetings in conjunction with ASHRAE conferences or the SimBuild conferences – are a great place to meet informally with the software developer community, which is the primary constituency for the software testing work.
What’s your favorite part of being a member of IBPSA-USA?
Participating with folks that are primarily on an energy-efficiency / sustainability mission. And yakking about building physics and data – and also hobbies. IBPSA is a diverse group of folks with a range of interests – many kindred spirits.
Can you describe the volunteer work you do with IBPSA-USA?
- IBPSA-USA Board member, since Feb 2024
- IBPSA-World Standards Committee Member. IBPSA co-sponsors five ASHRAE standards, so this primarily relates to activity based in the U.S. (3 of the 6 international committee members are long-time IBPSA-USA members)
- Member of the IBPSA-USA Certification Committee: especially interested in content related to software certification
- Session monitor at SimBuild conferences over the years, and also long-time scientific committee member (aka paper reviewer) for IBPSA-World Building Simulation conferences
- Active in IBPSA Denver Chapter organizing committee (2017 – 2024)
How did you get involved with this volunteer work?
Good question …. I was lucky to begin collaborating with the international software developer community on software testing as part of three International Energy Agency research tasks (1992 – 2009) and then more directly with SSPC 140. A lot of the IBPSA-USA folks are also on ASHRAE SSPC 140 and TC 4.7 (see bio above), and many of us also hang out at the semi-annual IBPSA-USA receptions around ASHRAE. So, the exposure and in-depth technical activities run deep. – But the more administrative volunteer activities have come later. I would say as an “in-depth details” / “blinders on” sort of person and a parent of now adult professionals, I shied away from volunteer activities not related to nurturing kids (e.g., I did soccer coaching), but now there is some limited discretionary time (still a full-time worker bee) to give back to an industry that has given me both a livelihood and a profound sense of satisfaction.
To someone who is interested in participating in IBPSA-USA, do you have any words of encouragement?
You’ll get to meet fantastic folks doing vital work.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter the field of building performance simulation?
I would ask them a series of leading questions to assess their interest: E.g.: Do you understand and enjoy at least some physics as it relates to buildings?; are you the type of “healthy OCD” person that checks stuff? would you be likely to check model results versus back of the envelope calculations?; try different approaches for modeling the same object?; check that sensitivities to applying energy-efficiency features versus a base-case are following your engineering judgment?; generally apply critical thinking? Are you the type of person that gets a kick out of incremental process improvements? -- That sort of thing.
Fun fact that people probably don’t know about you!
Back to the music: I also enjoy playing guitar, violin/fiddle, mandolin, and piano – and am grateful for being able to sneak in several band gigs per year, and to have made amateur trio recordings with both sons, who are also multi-instrumental. – I also still play Ultimate “frisbee”.
