No questions were found for category File Menu.

No questions were found for category Data Model Tree.

No questions were found for category 3D View.

No questions were found for category Plan View.

It is easy to transfer your license from one computer to another.  First you release (or deactivate) the license on the original computer.  Then you re-activate it on the new computer.  The steps are as follows:

1. Start Simergy on the original computer > click on the green “?” icon in the upper right of the application frame > select “Release License” … as shown below:
   
   

   
   NOTE: if you are not able to start Simergy on the original machine, please do the following:

   Browse to: https://d-alchemy.com/  > click on “Sign In” > login with the email address and password you used to register and download Simergy – after sign-in, your name will replace “Sign-In” > click on your name > select “My Account”
   
   

   This will take you to a webpage where you originally downloaded Simergy.  It contains license information for:

   • Your free Simergy Standard license
   • Your original Simergy Professional Trial license
   • Any license you purchased

   Locate the license you want to move to the new computer > click on Release License (on the right) – as shown here:
   
   

   After clicking “Release License” – it will be dis-associated from the original computer and become available to activate on the new computer.

   Copy the Activation Key from this screen.

2. Start Simergy on the new computer > click on the green “?” icon in the upper right of the application frame > select “Activate Simergy License Key” … as shown below:
   
   
   

   This will launch the License Activation Wizard as show below:
   
   

   Paste the License Activation Key that you copied from the original computer or from your “My Account” page > then click on “Activate my license online”

   Simergy will restart with the license key you pasted.  So long as the key has not expired > it will continue to work on this computer.

Yes.  To switch unit systems in Simergy projects, do the following:

1. Start Simergy > click File > New – this will load an empty project
2. Click on File > Options > User Interface Measure Units – this will display the unit system to be displayed in the UI
   
   
   
   
3. Click on the “SI Units” radio button at the top to use SI (metric) units or “US Units” to use US units
4. Then click on “Save for this Project and Defaults” > and then click on “Close” – both buttons are on the bottom

   This will cause all new projects to use selected unit system.

No questions were found for category Project Units.

No questions were found for category User Preferences.

No questions were found for category Library Defaults.

No questions were found for category Model Creator Defaults.

No questions were found for category Simulation Defaults.

No questions were found for category Project.

 Using Custom Weather Files in Simergy

In Simergy, the weather data to be used in the energy simulation is specified on in any of the following ways:

• Project workspace

   

  

The ‘Weather Source’ field is a dropdown list allowing you to select:

• Standard (default)

  This option allows you to select one of 1,042 locations in the USA.  After selecting ‘Standard’ in the ‘Weather Source’ column > select the US state in the ‘Region’ dropdown list > then select a location in that state – in the ‘Location’ field.  The screenshot above shows the selection of WA(shington) state and then Spokan-Fairchild AFB.  Once selected, the weather data will be downloaded from a US Dept. of Energy server and copied into the Project for simulation.

• Custom

  This option allows you to select a custom weather file, typically in other parts of the world.  To use this option, first find and download the custom weather data file(s) as described below.  Then, after selecting ‘Custom’ in the ‘Weather Source’ column > browse to ‘C:\Users\Public\Simergy\WeatherFiles’ > select the .epw file.  Once selected, the weather data will be downloaded from a US Dept. of Energy server and copied into the Project for simulation.

• Simulation workspace

  

  Once you have defined a simulation configuration in the Simulate workspace, if you click on ‘Run Simulation’ and Simergy finds that you have not yet specified a location, you will be prompted to specify the location with the following dialog:

  

  As described above, for the Project workspace, you can select either ‘Standard’ or ‘Custom’ weather sources.  After making your selection, you will see more detailed information in the ‘Location metadata’ table below.

• Import workspace

  

  When you are in the Import workspace > if you import a model that does not include a location that is recognized by Simergy, you will be prompted to specify the location with the same dialog as in the Simulation workspace:

               

  As described above (for the Simulation workspace), you can select either ‘Standard’ or ‘Custom’ weather sources.  After making your selection, you will see more detailed information in the ‘Location metadata’ table below.

• Using Custom Weather Data

  If Simergy’s Standard weather data does not include a location for which you would like to run a simulation, you can download weather data from any of the following sources:

• EnergyPlus weather website (free): https://energyplus.net/weather

  Contains over 2,100 locations.  About half are locations in the USA and are available in Simergy’s ‘Standard’ weather source.

• Climate One Building website (free): http://climate.onebuilding.org/
• Commercial Weather website: http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com/

From any of these, you need to locate EnergyPlus weather files (.epw).  Once downloaded, place the file on your disk drive at: ‘C:\Users\Public\Simergy\WeatherFiles’ – which is the weather file folder used by Simergy.

Once the .epw file has been downloaded to this location, you can select it for use in your simulations using the ‘Custom’ weather source option as described above.

No questions were found for category Project Dashboard.

No questions were found for category Project Workflow Guide.

This document will explain how to define utility cost in a Simergy model: by illustrating the assigned of a utility cost object to a project, by creation of a utility cost object in the library and via an example.

1. Assigning utility cost objects to a project

• Go to the Site workspace
• Click on Site in the project tree
• Click on the Edit button right next to “Select Location”
• In the Locations template check the checkbox for Utilities.
• Select all utility tariffs you want to assign to this project.

                                                   Figure 1: Steps to assign a utility tariff to a Simergy project

2. Create utility tariff object(s) in the library

For each energy source (e.g. Electricity, Gas, …), you need to define a Utility Tarif object (Type: UtilityCost Subtype: Tariff) in the library workspace under Location Data and Costs. Each of those Utility Tariff objects is assigned to a Meter that links the cost to the related energy consumption of that meter. You can use any meter from the meter dropdown, but usually one would use a meter at the facility level. Each Utility Tarif object then is referenced by a number of other cost objects that define the cost structure of the tariff. For example, with a cost variable object one can assign a monthly cost value and with a Charge Simple object a simple cost per unit (e.g., 0.5 $ per kWh). Figure 2 illustrates the relationships between these cost objects.

                                                                    Figure 2: Utility cost objects

3. Example tariff

In the below table is an example tariff defined that has a constant monthly charge as well as a constant demand charge. Furthermore, this tariff is different for summer and winter for the energy consumption and uses on, mid and off peak rates.

For the demand side, we define a Tariff (Type: UtilityCost Subtype: Tariff) object (called Effective Rate – Demand 206.02 monthly – 7.79 per kW) that contains the monthly charge of 206.02.

This demand tariff object is defined by the SimpleCharge object (Type: UtilityCost Subtype: ChargeSimple), which specifies the Category Variable Name as demand charge, provides a constant cost value and sets the season to annual to make this demand applicable for the full year.

For the consumption part we define another tariff object (Type: UtilityCost Subtype: Tariff), see below:

This tariff object references two schedules, a schedule that defined the different peak categories and a schedule that differentiates between summer and winter. See the related peak schedule to the right.

In addition, three Simple Charge objects (Type: UtilityCost Subtype: ChargeSimple), are linked to the Electricity Rate – Consumption tariff object. They define the cost value, are bound to the season (here summer) and to the peak category.

Finally, one SimpleCharge object (Type: UtilityCost Subtype: ChargeSimple), for the winter season would complete this example.

No questions were found for category Create/Edit Site Elements.

No questions were found for category Buildings.

Example for creating below grade building stories:

1. Let’s say you want a total of (4) rectangular basement stories – using 4m floor-to-floor height and 3m ceiling elevations, but you want the bottom (2) basements to be 30m x 30m, and the top (2) basements to be 35m x 35m (center aligned), with (1) zone per story … and then you wanted 10 stories above grade with similar parameters.
2. Currently, you need to start with the lowest story, so you parameters for basements 3 & 4 would look like this: (note the the ‘Base Story’ index is -4)
   
   
   
   

   To complete these basement stories, simply click ‘Save Stories.’

3. After saving those stories , you parameters for basements 1 & 2 parameters would look like this: (note the the ‘Base Story’ index is -2)
   
   
   
   

   To complete these basement stories, simply click ‘Save Stories.’

4. Then – to add the (10) stories above grade, you parameters might look like this:
   
   
   
   

   To complete the building, simply click ‘Save Stories.’

No questions were found for category Create/Edit Zones.

By default, the Room Air Model in EnergyPlus and Simergy is well mixed. This assumes the temperature (and other parameters) are constant within each zone. However, there are several options to vary room air:

1. OneNodeDisplacementVentilation
2. ThreeNodeDisplacementVentilation
3. CrossVentilation
4. UnderFloorAirDistributionInterior
5. UnderFloorAirDistributionExterior

All those models can be defined within the Occupancy Template, specifically on the “Air Flow” tab. The user can select one of the five detailed room air models and then select a related library entry that is applied to each zone that is part of the zone group of this template.

OneNodeDisplacementVentilation

The Mundt one node displacement ventilation air model for displacement ventilation defines two fractions and five nodes that are automatically generated by Simergy (see left figure below).

ThreeNodeDisplacementVentilation

“This model is applicable to spaces that are served by a low velocity floor-level displacement ventilation air distribution system. Furthermore, the dominant sources of heat gain should be from people and other localized sources located in the occupied part of the room. The model should be used with caution in zones which have large heat gains or losses through exterior walls or windows or which have considerable direct solar gain. The model predicts three temperatures in the room (see right figure below):

• A foot level temperature (TFLOOR). The floor region is 0.2 meters deep and TFLOOR represents the temperature at the mid-point of the region.
• An occupied subzone temperature (TOC), representing the temperature in the region between the floor layer and the upper, mixed layer.
• An upper node representing the mixed-layer/outflow temperature (TMX) essential for overall energy budget calculations and for modeling comfort effects of the upper layer temperature.” (From the InputOutputReference.pdf)

CrossVentilation

“The UCSD Cross Ventilation Room Air Model provides a simple model for heat transfer and temperature prediction in cross ventilated rooms. Cross Ventilation (CV) is common in many naturally ventilated buildings, with air flowing through windows, open doorways and large internal apertures across rooms and corridors in the building.” (From the InputOutputReference.pdf)

This option will only work in combination with natural ventilation. Please ensure that the zones you define cross ventilation for are also part of the natural ventilation network.

UnderFloorAirDistributionInterior

“This model is applicable to interior spaces that are served by an underfloor air distribution system. The dominant sources of heat gain should be from people, equipment, and other localized sources located in the occupied part of the room. The model should be used with caution in zones which have large heat gains or losses through exterior walls or windows or which have considerable direct solar gain. The model predicts two temperatures in the room:

• An occupied subzone temperature (TOC), representing the temperature in the region between the floor and the boundary of the upper subzone.
• An upper subzone temperature (TMX) essential for overall energy budget calculations and for modeling comfort effects of the upper layer temperature.” (From the InputOutputReference.pdf)

UnderFloorAirDistributionExterior

“This model is applicable to exterior spaces that are served by an underfloor air distribution system. The dominant sources of heat gain should be from people, equipment, and other localized sources located in the occupied part of the room, as well as convective gain coming from a warm window. The model predicts two temperatures in the room:

• An occupied subzone temperature (TOC), representing the temperature in the region between the floor and the boundary of the upper subzone.
• An upper subzone temperature (TMX) essential for overall energy budget calculations and for modeling comfort effects of the upper layer temperature.” (From the InputOutputReference.pdf)

No questions were found for category Interiors.

No questions were found for category Custom Openings.

No questions were found for category Tools.

In the systems workspace

We use several acronyms in our HVAC templates, see below for descriptions:

No questions were found for category Systems Creator.

No questions were found for category Zone HVAC Groups.

No questions were found for category Air Loops.

No questions were found for category Water Loops.

No questions were found for category VRF Loops.

No questions were found for category Refrigeration Loops.

Parametric analysis

Simple parametric analysis can be done in Simergy by developing a base model as Design Alternative 1 and developing various design alternations. Those can be done by

1. creating additional design alternatives in the Project workspace
2. using measures in the simulation workspace
3. using parameterized measures in the simulation workspace and choose various values for those parameters in different simulation configurations.
4. any combination thereof

Simergy’s support for OpenStudio measures enables the user to do simple parametric analysis. Each measure can be run and adjust the Simergy model just before the EnergyPlus simulation is performed. These measures are Ruby scripts that use the OpenStudio API to modify the model. These modifications can be small, e.g. just changing one or to parameters of a couple of objects like efficiencies or can make major changes to the model, such as replacing HVAC systems with a totally different HVAC system. These measures can also be parameterized, e.g., to adjust the boiler efficiency by providing the efficiency as a parameter. This way, the same measure can be used to run various scenarios with different measures and measure parameters.

Measure types

Generally, there are three different measure types: Model, EnergyPlus and Report Measures.

The model measures use the high level OpenStudio API to read and write an OSM file. This simplifies access to the OpenStudio Model but does not cover the full spectrum of all EnergyPlus objects. It also includes an additional conversion process from IDF to OSM and back.

EnergyPlus measures (which we recommend), adjust the model at the EnergyPlus object level (IDF file) and is thus a more direct way of adjusting the model. This direct access to EnergyPlus objects requires version specific code or measures to work with more than one EnergyPlus version.

Report measures are run after the simulation and could be based on either the high level OpenStudio API or the EnergPlus object level API. A report measure collects input and results data and generates a specific report.

Measures in Simergy

Simergy bundles several measures within the installation. In addition, more measures can be downloaded via the Online Measure functionality in Simergy V4.0.

The Simergy Local Measure UI lists all locally available measures in a predefined taxonomy and the user can with drag and drop measures onto a simulation configuration or use the “Add selected measures” button. Once a measure is attached to a simulation configuration, its parameters can be adjusted.

Each configuration can have its own set of measures and related parameters. Through adjusting the measures and their parameters across various simulation configurations and/or design alternatives, a parametric analysis can be performed.

Online Measures

With Simergy Version 4.0, Simergy supported downloading of measures from BCL (Building Component Library). The measures are organized on the mentioned topology and can be downloaded and used with a button click.

Measure validation

When entering the Simulation Workspace, Simergy performs a validation check if all objects used in the model are also supported by the OpenStudio API. If issues are found, they can be reviewed in the following dialog and only EnergyPlus and some Report Measures area available for selection.

Feedback from Measures

Details about each measure run can be found by clicking on the successful/error button on each measures row.

Reports and Results Visualization

All results generated in either form, with design alternatives, measures, or combinations thereof, can be viewed within Simergy in reports and in results visualization the same way any simulation results can be viewed.

Writing your own Measures

Besides using existing measures, users can also write their own measures. A reference guides is available here:

https://nrel.github.io/OpenStudio-user-documentation/reference/measure_writing_guide/

Once the general measure structure is setup it is as easy as writing ruby code and using the OpenStudio Model API.

https://openstudio-sdk-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/cpp/OpenStudio-2.9.0-doc/model/html/index.html

No questions were found for category EnergyPlus Simulations.

No questions were found for category Simulation Configurations.

No questions were found for category Measures.

Inject IDF snippets

Sometimes it is useful to quickly inject IDF snippets in the IDF file that is generated by Simergy. Adding report variables or meters for example is a use case for this.

When you place an IDF file named “InjectIDF.idf” into the same folder as your simp file, Simergy will automatically add the content of that IDF file into the generated IDF file. Anything can be added that corresponds to correct IDF Syntax. 

Many Simergy users are outside the US, so the Standard weather data provided in Simergy is not useful to them.  Instead they use the “Custom” option for Weather data.  If such users copy their weather data files (EPW/DDY/STAT) to the folder C:\Users\Public\Simergy\WeatherFiles – then Simergy will find them when the “Custom” option is selected – as shown below:

EPW files exist for hundreds of locations around the world, but it is sometimes difficult to locate DDY (Design Day) files for those locations. 

This FAQ describes the process for defining Days and associating them with a location in Simergy.

1. After selecting your EPW file, go to the Site workspace > select the building site object in and of the following views – Tree, 3D, 2D plan (as shown below)
   
   
   
2. At the very bottom of the application frame, you will see the Library that is selected (“Library” by default). If you put your Design Days in the default library (“Library.siml”), then you don’t need to change it.  If you put them in a different library, then select it in the dropdown list.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Now look to the left, near the bottom for something like “AUS_QLD_Brisbane” – and an “Edit” button > click the Edit button, and you will see the location template that was created when you selected the custom weather file – shown below with the empty Summer and Winter design day lists expanded:
   
   
   
   
   
4. Where it says “None Selected” > click the dropdown list and it will show you the available Design Days in both the Project model and in the Library (red text). Select the design day you want first, then select second, and so on.  When you have selected all you want > click “Save Changes” and then “Close.”  The design days are now associated with this location.

NOTE: Having explained the hard way to do this.  I see that you already added your design days into the DDY file associated with your EPW file.  So the easy way to do it is to copy your (3) files into the weather data folder (C:\Users\Public\Simergy\WeatherFiles) and then re-select it with the custom weather ‘Browse’ feature shown above.  If the DDY file has Design Day data in it – all of the above will be done for you automatically

Here is what I got using your data:

No questions were found for category Radiance Simulations.

No questions were found for category Image-based Simulations.

No questions were found for category Grid-based Simulations.

Report with monthly electricity results

Open the Project Comparison Report, on page 2 you can find “Total Monthly Electrical Consumption (kWh)” and on page 3 you can find “Total Monthly Electrical Demand (W)”. This is a report that shows one or more design alternatives and simulation runs so you can compare those against each other. See screenshot below for an example of the two bar charts and data tables.

                                                              Project Comparison Report - Total Monthly Electrical Consumption (kWh)

                                                                  Project Comparison Report - Total Monthly Electrical Demand (kW)

No questions were found for category Simergy Reports.

No questions were found for category EnergyPlus Reports.

No questions were found for category Custom Reports using Measures.

No questions were found for category Radiance Reports.

 Results Visualization with monthly data

In EnergyPlus and Simergy there exists a large range of output variables and output meters. All of which can be either defined in the output requests set template or added to the InjectIDF.idf file.

Typical electricity or gas meters at the facility and building level are as follows:

To better understand which meter sums up other meters, you can refer to the “eplusout.mtd” file that contains all relevant meters for each specific run.

More specific electricity meters are:

Some example for gas meters are:

In order to output electric demand the following variables can be added:

Similar to before the first variable is the sum of the other two (building and HVAC).

 In Simergy Version 4.0, a new output request set template is available that contains all mentioned meters and variables (Electric/gas consumption and demand).

                                                                                                    Templates workspace – Sample output request set template

This template contains one or more output request sets which are also editable, so the user can add or remove meters and output variables. We recommend leaving the Frequency of reporting at its default “hourly” value. The interval is very easily adjusted in the Results Visualization workspace.

                                                                                                 Library workspace – Sample output request set

Once you assign the output request set to a simulation configuration in the simulation workspace, the variables and meters get added to the IDF file on export. After a successful simulation run they are accessible via the Result Visualization workspace. Below are two bar chart examples showing total electrical demand and total electricity on a monthly interval as well as electrical and gas consumption.

                                                                 Results Visualization – Electrical demand and consumption

                                                                Results Visualization – Electrical and gas consumption

                                             Results Visualization – Stacked area chart of various electricity consumers

                                          Results Visualization – Scatter chart of electric consumption for cooling

No questions were found for category Components.

In the libraries workspace

You can find comfort models related output variables like PMV and PPT assigned to the People Type in the Interna loads object:

No questions were found for category Results Viz Templates.

No questions were found for category California Title 24.

No questions were found for category Standards.

How to create a Green Roof in Simergy

A green roof can be simply created in Simergy by using a special material called Material:RoofVegetation (SimMaterial/OpaqueMaterial/RoofVegatation) as the outside layer of the roof construction (material layer set). Typically, a green roof has a number of additional layers compared to a normal roof for drainage. Depending on your LOD of the model these can be added to the construction.

 The following figure shows all properties of the roof vegetation layer

An example of a simplified green roof material layer set:

EnergyPlus documentation suggests that green roofs may require "more timesteps" than normal simulations.

There is a process for transferring content between libraries.  Here is a quick tutorial on that:

1. When installing a new version of Simergy, the ‘Library.siml’ and ‘T24 Library.siml’ files are backed-up to a safe location and new version (companitible with the new Simergy version) are installed. The save location is at: C:\Users\Public.  There you will find folders beginning with “SimergyUserBackup.”  Inside that folder, you will find folders for ‘LibariesAndTemplates’ and ‘ProgramData’ -- as you see below:

    
   
   

   
   
   
2. To retrieve library entries and templates you created in the previous version > go to the ‘LibariesAndTemplates’ folder and rename ‘Library.siml’ to ‘OLD-Library.siml’ > then copy this library to C:\Users\Public\Simergy\LibrariesAndTemplates folder – with the new ‘Library.siml.’ You could copy you old library content into the new ‘Library.siml’, but the better idea is to create you own library with your content.  To do this > copy the new “TemplateEmptyLibrary.siml” to a new file with a name you give it – e.g. ‘MyLibrary.siml.’  Your ‘LibrariesAndTemplates’ folder should look something like this:

   
   
   

   
   To copy your library entries to ‘MyLibrary.siml’ – do the following:

3. Start Simergy > click on ‘File’, then ‘New’, then ‘Options’, then ‘Library/Template Defaults’ – you should see this:
   
   
   
   
4. Now click in the Selected Libraries 3 dropdown list and select OLD-Library.siml and/or ‘MyLibrary.siml’ – and if you want both to become available – add the other one in library slot 4. If you did both of those things, you will see this:
   
   
   
   

   Click on ‘Save for this Project & Defaults’

   Now all 4 of these libraries will be available to you whenever you are using Simergy.

5. Now go to Libraries > select the library (lower right) that has the content you want to copy >
   • To copy individual library entries > select them in the ‘Library Entry Name’ field and then click on the ‘Copy To’ button above the library entry name – like this:
     
     
      
     This will surface a dialog in which you select the library to which you want to copy this entry – like this:
     
     
     
     
   • To copy many library entries at one time > Click on the ‘Show All’ button above the ‘Library Entry Name.’ A table with all the library entries will be generated and shown:
     
     
     
     

     Select the entries you want to copy > then click on ‘Copy To’ – which will give you the same dialog as how above to select the library to which you want to copy these entries.

      

      

No questions were found for category Templates.

Establishing thermal bridge parameters

With a tool like LBNL’s Therm, you can determine basic parameters about thermal bridges, such as area, thickness, and thermal resistance.

https://windows.lbl.gov/tools/therm/software-download

 Defining the thermal bridge material layer set

• Go to the Library workspace
• Select MLS Editor
• Press the New button
• Select OpaqueLayerSet as Type
• Select NoMass as MaterialType for the first layer in the MLS grid on the right and specify a material name, thickness, R-Value per Thickness and Roughness value and Save. 
  
  

Apply thermal bridge material layer set

• Go to Building workspace
• Select Custom Openings
• Select a wall in the 3D view (or the 2D view or the tree)
• Click on New Door and place the “door” representing your thermal bridge in context of the wall.
• Change the Construction to the Thermal Bridge MLS you created above.
  
  

No questions were found for category Cross-Workspace Tools.

No questions were found for category Propties dialog.

No questions were found for category Right-Click Context Menus.

No questions were found for category Import BIM.

No questions were found for category IDF Import.

No questions were found for category IFC Import.

No questions were found for category gbXML Import.

No questions were found for category Open SimXML.

No questions were found for category Export BIM.

No questions were found for category IDF Export.

No questions were found for category IFC Export.

No questions were found for category SaveAs SimXML.

No questions were found for category Samples.

No questions were found for category ASHRAE Standard System examples.

No questions were found for category DOE Reference Building examples.

No questions were found for category Installer.

No questions were found for category Website.