Sustain: An experimental test bed for building energy simulation

Current building energy simulation technology requires extensive labor, time and expertise to create building energy models, substantial computational time for accurate simulations, and generates data in formats that make results difficult to interpret. These deficiencies can be ameliorated using modern graphical user interfaces and algorithms which take advantage of modern computer architectures and display capabilities. This paper describes a novel test bed environment which offers an interactive graphical interface, provides access to simulation modules that run at accelerated computational speeds, and presents new graphic visualization methods for the interpretation of simulation results. Its modular structure makes it suitable for use in early stage building design, for use as a research platform for the investigation of new simulation methods, and for use as a tool for teaching concepts of sustainable design. Improvements in the accuracy and execution speed of many of the simulation modules are based on the modification of advanced computer graphics rendering algorithms. Significant performance improvements are illustrated in several computationally expensive energy simulation modules. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.