Question-and-Answer Resource for the Building Energy Modeling Community
 | 1 | initial version |
Hi Ryan,
I'm an ME working for an MEP firm and I handle pretty much all of the energy modelling we do. I have a few thoughts I can share with you.
I've considered using Revit for energy modelling because most of the projects we get from architectural firms are already in Revit. I spent a little bit of time trying to work in existing Revit models, and I quickly realized that the amount of time I would spend setting up spaces within the existing model would be much greater than building the energy model from the ground up using Openstudio/Sketchup. However, it may be possible to make the energy model process quicker if you are building the Revit model in house. I also found the capabilities to be very conceptual: it didn't seem to have a whole lot of flexibility for different types of analyses.
I have the same thoughts as you on Trane 3D Plus (too expensive), but I played with their 30 day demo for a bit and found that it doesn't have as much flexibility for mechanical systems as Openstudio does. I will say that the geometry creation is a little more intuitive and more forgiving when it comes to making mistakes and backtracking than the Openstudio Sketchup plugin. Both software packages use Energy Plus as the engine, but I think Openstudio is able to access more objects. There's also a lot more technical help available for Openstudio than for the Trane software.
Openstudio probably has a steeper learning curve than some of the other options, but after using it consistently for about a year and a half now, I've reduced the time I spend modelling a single building for code compliance (which requires a baseline and proposed model) from 10-15 days to about 3-5 days. I took a 3-day training course for the software which has been worth every penny.
Sorry I can't offer you more advice about the specifics of Revit, but I hope you found this helpful anyway.
-Josh
