Development of Test Procedure for the Evaluation of Building Energy Simulation Tools

Abstract

Developing a test procedure for the evaluation of building energy simulation tool used for the energy use analysis of HVAC systems and buildings in Japan, SHASE, Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary Engineers of Japan, published the procedure as a guideline in 2016: Guideline of Test Procedure for the Evaluation of Building Energy Simulation Tool. This test procedure focuses on the evaluation of the energy use resulting from thermal load and HVAC system simulation of commercial buildings excluding residential buildings. To enable the identification of causal relationship between causes and results with the object of evaluating simulation tool’s ability, the test procedure is divided into two parts, that is, thermal load simulation test and HVAC system simulation test, and also ASHRAE, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers, adopted same method in standard 140. The guideline focuses on evaluating the total energy consumption of HVAC system, so has feature that include not only equipment but also whole system as evaluating targets. This paper describes the outline of the test procedure and reports the test results by some participants and the lessons learned. SHASE intends that every building energy simulation tool should be tested by the guideline to show the reliability obtaining the user’s confidence and the test procedure would be utilized for the education of tool users as well.