Question-and-Answer Resource for the Building Energy Modeling Community
 | 1 | initial version |
High level models infer the bulk of the simulation engine's requisite inputs to approximate a building. A good example is the DOE prototype Measure, which takes building type, vintage, and climate zone as inputs. The Measure then uses data from the OpenStudio Standards Gem and a set of heuristics (based on ASHRAE 90.1 modeling guidelines) to create the thousands of lines of input data needed by EnergyPlus. Detailed models will have many more of those inputs specified by hand to create a model that more closely represents a specific building. Tools like DOE's Commercial Building Asset Score fall somewhere in the middle, requiring more inputs than the prototype Measure, but fewer than the detailed model. It comes down to what kind of problem you're trying to solve and how much fidelity you expect as to how much detail you need.
