Short description about OpenStudio and EnergyPlus. This video introduces you to some of the history of energy modeling and describes some of the computational capabilities of the OpenStudio program.
Translation:
So the question is: what is open studio?
Simply put, OpenStudio is a graphical user interface for EnergyPlus.
But before we can fully answer this question, we need to know what energy modeling is and a little bit of its history.
I won't go back far, just to the most recent and widespread use.
In the 1970s and 1980s, computer programs were created to simulate the energy consumption of buildings with the aim of reducing energy consumption.
By the 1990s, the U.S. Department of Energy had developed a robust program for this purpose, free to the public.
It was called DOE-2. Unfortunately, it required a lot of coding knowledge.
They further developed a graphical user interface called eQuest.
Today, eQuest is the most widely used program for simulating building energy consumption.
It's free, but updates are no longer supported.
In the 1990s, the Department of Energy began developing the next generation of energy simulation programs, called EnergyPlus.
Today it is the latest stable energy simulation program for buildings.
This allows engineers, scientists and the construction industry to predict and simulate how a building consumes energy throughout its lifespan.
Energy Plus uses many complex mathematical models to calculate a building's energy consumption.
Furthermore, like DOE-2, it is a very obscure programming language-oriented program.
Not very user-friendly.
By the late 2000s, DOE realized that to gain widespread acceptance of the program, they needed to develop a robust, easy-to-use graphical user interface.
They developed OpenStudio.
OpenStudio is a graphical user interface for creating inputs for EnergyPlus.
The workflow starts with creating geometry using Floor Space JS, located in the OpenStudio program.
If you have complex geometry, you can also use SketchUp and the OpenStudio plugin.
Or you can import geometry from IDF files, GBXML files, SDD files or IFC files.
You can then assign room types and thermal zones to your 3D model.
You can think of this 3D model as a shell that will later contain all your energy modeling information.
From there you can modify the model by changing various parameters, such as:
How many people are in the building. You can change the power density of the lighting. You can change the ventilation speeds.
You can change the occupancy schedules.
You can change other schedules, such as when the building is open or closed.
You can change water consumption or change the number of people in the building during the day.
You can change the HVAC system set points. Basically, everything you can do in an energy modeling program.
You can do it in an OpenStudio. It is a graphical user interface and therefore very intuitive.
Once you finish assembling the building model, it exports it to EnergyPlus.
EnergyPlus analyzes the figures for you and provides information about your building.
The end result shows you a lot of information, such as:
Total and monthly energy consumption.
Performance of building envelopes.
Peak space and HVAC loads.
Peak water consumption and ventilation.

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