Question-and-Answer Resource for the Building Energy Modeling Community
 | 1 | initial version |
Ryan,
I work at an architecture firm doing exactly the kind of energy modeling work you're describing (from early conceptual studies all the way to mechanical systems implementation in design development).
For my energy modeling, I use Honeybee from Ladybug: https://www.ladybug.tools/. Honeybee uses OpenStudio for energy modeling, Radiance for daylighting/glare, and numerous bespoke python scripts for additional thermal comfort, environmental analysis (i.e EPW visualization, urban heat island modeling), and even CFD simulation. In my opinion it's ecosystem of analysis is unmatched (disclosure, I am biased, as I contribute to the code).
Right now the legacy version of Honeybee (which contains it's energy modeling workflow) is only available for Grasshopper. However, a version supporting Dynamo is in the works.
In the meantime, I have a custom workflow where I use Revit to generate a simple, bare bones OpenStudio model of thermal zones/spaces from Revit area plans, and then I open the OpenStudio model in Honeybee, and do all additional BEM modeling in Grasshopper with Honeybee. Unfortunately this is based on a Revit plugin we're developing at my company that isn't ready to be released. However, I believe this kind of workflow can be reproduced using the gbXML export tools in Revit and gbXML import tools in Honeybee.
So I would recommend using Grasshopper via Honeybee to use Openstudio, rather then Sketch up. Not only because you can use Honeybee and all it's associated tools, but also because Grasshopper is a much more sophisticated geometry modeler then sketchup.
S
| | 2 | No.2 Revision |
Ryan,
I work at an architecture firm doing exactly the kind of energy modeling work you're describing (from early conceptual studies all the way to mechanical systems implementation in design development).
For my energy modeling, I use Honeybee from Ladybug: https://www.ladybug.tools/. Honeybee uses OpenStudio for energy modeling, Radiance for daylighting/glare, and numerous bespoke python scripts for additional thermal comfort, environmental analysis (i.e EPW visualization, urban heat island modeling), and even CFD simulation. In my opinion it's ecosystem of analysis is unmatched (disclosure, I am biased, as I contribute to the code). Also it has a good forum that will debug, and answer any questions quickly: https://discourse.ladybug.tools/.
Right now the legacy version of Honeybee (which contains it's energy modeling workflow) is only available for Grasshopper. However, a version supporting Dynamo is in the works.
In the meantime, I have a custom workflow where I use Revit to generate a simple, bare bones OpenStudio model of thermal zones/spaces from Revit area plans, and then I open the OpenStudio model in Honeybee, and do all additional BEM modeling in Grasshopper with Honeybee. Unfortunately this is based on a Revit plugin we're developing at my company that isn't ready to be released. However, I believe this kind of workflow can be reproduced using the gbXML export tools in Revit and gbXML import tools in Honeybee.
So I would recommend using Grasshopper via Honeybee to use Openstudio, rather then Sketch up. Not only because you can use Honeybee and all it's associated tools, but also because Grasshopper is a much more sophisticated geometry modeler then sketchup.
S
| | 3 | No.3 Revision |
Ryan,
I work at an architecture firm doing exactly the kind of energy modeling work you're describing (from early conceptual studies all the way to mechanical systems implementation in design development).
For my energy modeling, I use Honeybee from Ladybug: https://www.ladybug.tools/. Honeybee uses OpenStudio for energy modeling, Radiance for daylighting/glare, and numerous bespoke python scripts for additional thermal comfort, environmental analysis (i.e EPW visualization, urban heat island modeling), and even CFD simulation. simulation (via OpenFOAM). In my opinion it's ecosystem of analysis is unmatched (disclosure, I am biased, as I contribute to the code). Also it has a good forum that will debug, and answer any questions quickly: https://discourse.ladybug.tools/.
Right now the legacy version of Honeybee (which contains it's energy modeling workflow) is only available for Grasshopper. However, a version supporting Dynamo is in the works.
In the meantime, I have a custom workflow where I use Revit to generate a simple, bare bones OpenStudio model of thermal zones/spaces from Revit area plans, and then I open the OpenStudio model in Honeybee, and do all additional BEM modeling in Grasshopper with Honeybee. Unfortunately this is based on a Revit plugin we're developing at my company that isn't ready to be released. However, I believe this kind of workflow can be reproduced using the gbXML export tools in Revit and gbXML import tools in Honeybee.
So I would recommend using Grasshopper via Honeybee to use Openstudio, rather then Sketch up. Not only because you can use Honeybee and all it's associated tools, but also because Grasshopper is a much more sophisticated geometry modeler then sketchup.
S
