The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) has received a $252,000 contract from the 
U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory to expand the 
modeling capabilities of DOEs EnergyPlusTM building energy simulation 
program.

The program is being developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley 
National Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and a number of 
other contributors, including FSEC.  It lets architects, engineers, building owners 
and managers assess the impacts of their design choices and operating practices on 
energy use and operating costs.  

EnergyPlus is a building performance simulation program that has innovative 
simulation capabilities, including simulation time steps of less than one hour, 
modular systems simulation models that are integrated with the zone heat balance 
simulation, and input and output structures tailored to facilitate third-party user 
interface development. The integration of the systems and zone heat balance 
solution technique allows for evaluation of interactions between various building 
components and systems, a key deficiency in the earlier programs, but absolutely 
necessary to enable whole-building evaluation and optimization.

Don Shirey, a Principal Research Engineer at FSEC, explained that the unique 
capabilities of EnergyPlus have grown significantly over time, but FSEC will now 
develop additional key features and upgrades that are needed to support research, 
design and analysis of high-performance and zero-energy buildings. The following 
new features and enhancements will be implemented, tested and documented by FSEC 
during this project:
A model for packaged terminal heat pumps
A model for gas engine-driven air-to-air heat pump waste heat recovery
Proper modeling of window screens
Modeling energy losses related to commercial building air distribution
systems
Comfort-based controls for forced-air cooling and heating systems
An improved model for microturbine power generation with heat recovery.

For more information on this project, contact Shirey at 321-638-1451.

The Florida Solar Energy Center, a research institute of the University of Central 
Florida, is the largest and most active state-supported energy research center in 
the country.  Current research activities include solar water and pool heating, 
solar electric and distributed generation systems, energy-efficient buildings, 
alternative transportation systems, hydrogen fuel, and other energy areas. For more 
information, call the FSEC Public Information Office at (321) 638-1015 or 
go to http://www.fsec.ucf.edu.