What program can model a whole energy sim of an innovative home?
Hi there,
I'm looking to model a very unique passive home design that has many similar characteristics of an Earthship, but is different in many aspects. Here are some details that I'd like to include in the simulation:
- Natural ventilation using cooling tubes
- Solar collectors with large storage tank with in-floor heating to provide main source of heating
- Large storage tank of ice with heat exchanger for main source of cooling
- Highly insulating walls
- Greenhouse and hydroponics/aquaponics grow room
- Rainwater catchment system with heating coils to melt snow in winter
- Two car attached garage
I'm currently looking into the OpenStudio sketchup plug-in, as I think it may be the most versatile, but would like something easier to learn, if possible. Any suggestions or recommendations?
Thank you!
I was going to say that I believe EnergyPlus can do most of this. In addition to OpenStudio, there are other EnergyPlus interfaces that are more shrink-wrapped and could be easier to use. DesignBuilder and Simergy, specifically, should expose most of these features (I think). Both should have free trial versions. You could give one or both a go.
Great, thank you, I will look into both of these, but I may stick with OpenStudio as it's completely free.