heating energy consumption is different in "Zone Equipment Report" and "Austin Energy Enduse Timeseries CSVExport"
Sorry for the primary question..
(1)In the "Zone Equipment Report", for each zone, there is a category "Zone Load Summary". Inside this category, there is "heating loads". The unit of the heating loads is kBtu/ft2 per Run Period. If I use the data of heating loads multiply the zone area(ft2), I should get the total heating energy consumption of this zone for this run period(unit KBtu), is it right?
(2)I also have the report:"Austin Energy Enduse Timeseries CSVExport". It shows district heating energy. If I add all the heating energy consumption for each hour together, I could have the total heating energy consumption(KBtu) of run period (I have three thermal zones in total), is that right?
(3) Should not it be that the sum of heating energy consumption of each zone from zone load summary equals the district heating energy? But in my report, the number of one zone's heating energy exceeds the district heating energy. What could be the reason for that?
Does your district heating object provide heating on an air loop? It could be that the zone load summary is only showing sensible heating at the zone, and isn't including heating of ventilation air to the zone.
I use ideal air loads. But if the zone load summary only shows sensible heating, the sum of the three zone heating should smaller than the district heating, right? But in my case, only one zone heating load(KBtu) is bigger than the district heating load(KBtu).
Is it possible you are comparing a design load (btu/hr-sf), which is a rate, to an energy use intensity over a set time (btu/sf)? In which OpenStudio/EnergyPlus output report are you seeing the "Zone Equipment Report"?
The report is called "zone report". The unit of the number is "kBtu/ft2 per Run Period". If it is a design load(which is a rate), I cannot use the number(unit kBtu/ft2 per Run Period) multiply the area to get the total energy consumption(then the unit will be KBtu)? Sorry for the primary question, but I really need to know :)
Generally when someone refers to load, 70% of the time they are referring to the design load, which is the peak conditions that the zone will see. Think of it as the peak flow rate of net heat flow into the zone. This is used to size heating and cooling equipment. The net heat flow during most other hours will be less than this, so you can't just multiply the peak rate by the area to get an aggregate number. I hope that makes sense.