Is OpenStudio supposed to replace EP-Launch 3 for using EnergyPlus?

asked 2021-05-04 08:30:09 -0500

Hi, I'm new to EnergyPlus and BEM, and I am hoping to use EP for assessing potential building/home energy upgrades. I guess that OpenStudio (with OpenStudio Application) can do alot more than EP-Launch 3. I will probably spend a lot of time learning how to use one or the other and I'm trying to figure out which to focus on. I'd be very grateful for any guidance. Kind regards, Paul

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answered 2021-05-05 14:07:27 -0500

mdahlhausen

9314 ●17 ●11 http://openstudio.net/

EP-Launch is to the OpenStudio App as a PDF viewer is to a PowerPoint slide deck.

EP-Launch is not intended to build models, although you can make edits to a model with the .idf editor in EP-Launch. You generally need some other software tool to build the model. The OpenStudio App is one such option. There are many other EnergyPlus interfaces that can generate an .idf that you can run with EP-Launch, just as there are many softwares that can make .pdf files.

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Thanks, I appreciate the guidance.

tallish_paul ( 2021-05-15 06:18:19 -0500 )edit

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answered 2021-05-05 07:57:13 -0500

Craig Simmons
383 ●8 ●7

OpenStudio does not "replace" anything in EnergyPlus per se. OpenStudio and the Application specifically are separate software tools that leverage EnergyPlus to run simulations. If you're just trying out BEM for the first time, EnergyPlus directly is a pretty tall order since it's text based and requires a lot of manual connections between objects.

The OpenStudio Application is more user friendly but still has a bit of a learning curve. Documentation can be found here. If you are working on single family residential you may even want to try something like BEopt initially. It is no longer supported, but it's free and does a good job for small residential models.

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OK, I can see I am muddled about my concept of OpenStudio / Application, so I'll keep reading. Thanks for the BEopt tip.

tallish_paul ( 2021-05-15 06:21:48 -0500 )edit

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answered 2021-05-05 06:00:25 -0500

gianfra
56 ●4 ●3

Hi, I'm currently an OpenStudio user. It is much more user-friendly than EP-Launch, however, it doesn't have the same modeling capability. Since I'm not a good measure writer (yet, hopefully) when I need to model something that OpenStudio does not provide I switch to modify the .idf file (manually or via EP-Launch). I would suggest spending your time on OpenStudio, then with a bit of practice, you could start learning how to write measure, and automate your work. Sometimes, I launch the energyplus .idf by Matlab to simulate multiple building configurations. This is my experience, I'm curious to see other more experienced users how approached BEM.

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Thanks, good to know that OpenStudio sometimes can't access all E+ features, and how you sometimes use something else (Matlab I mean).

tallish_paul ( 2021-05-15 06:23:57 -0500 )edit

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You're welcome. Actually, I don't use Matlab to model but only to automatically run multiple simulations. I parse the .idf file to replace some text strings and simulate the new .idf file, i.e. to change specific materials conductivity or lights power, etc. I use the Matlab function "system" to run EP by the CLI.

gianfra ( 2021-05-16 12:32:05 -0500 )edit

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Big Ladder has a parametric tool for IDF files you may want to check out for this kind of work.

Modelkit

Craig Simmons ( 2021-05-18 06:40:15 -0500 )edit

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@Craig Simmons @gianfra thanks for that, I've just watched the modelkit video and it looks a very useful alternative to using e.g. Matlab - although pulling results into Matlab might have other advantages e.g. graphing etc. But having a ready-made idf manipulation system looks great.

tallish_paul ( 2021-05-18 14:42:10 -0500 )edit

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Is OpenStudio supposed to replace EP-Launch 3 for using EnergyPlus?

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Is OpenStudio supposed to replace EP-Launch 3 for using EnergyPlus?