On March 4th, Performance Systems Development (PSD), a leader in energy efficiency program implementation, training and software development, delivered the first “Introduction to Energy Modeling with OpenStudio” classroom training in Philadelphia. PSD is the first commercial organization approved by National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to deliver OpenStudio training courses for building professionals, software developers, and utility administrators.
“PSD is an extremely capable partner, and we are excited to see them leverage their expertise to deliver OpenStudio training for the private sector,” said Larry Brackney, Section Manager at NREL.
Funded by the US Department of Energy, OpenStudio® is a collection of cloud based software tools that support an iterative process of design, simulation, and analysis, to help building owners, architects, designers, and engineers, model the energy and water usage performance of buildings.
Chris Balbach, the OpenStudio course instructor and Vice President of Research and Development at PSD, had this to offer about the impact that OpenStudio will have on the energy efficiency industry:
“Today’s energy modelers are under pressure to produce results faster, cheaper, and of higher quality” said Balbach. “OpenStudio® makes this possible and large consumers of energy models – particularly utility energy efficiency programs – will realize significant gains in efficiency and productivity by adopting tools based on the OpenStudio® eco-system.”
OpenStudio course attendees learned how to rapidly develop effective modeling workflows and fully leverage the five graphical applications that make up the modeling ecosystem, including: EnergyPlus, the SketchUp Plug-in, the ParametricAnalysis Tool, Run Manager, and ResultsViewer. Attendees were also introduced to modeling techniques using NREL’s Building Component Library (BCL), a platform designed to significantly improve model quality assurance and overall savings predictions.
“The course provided a solid overview of critical [OpenStudio] components that was much better than free online resources,” emphasized an attendee of the Philadelphia OpenStudio course.
Upcoming OpenStudio Trainings:
In partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), PSD is offering OpenStudio classroom trainings across New York state at a 50% discount for NY State residents and employees (the courses are also available to anyone outside of NY at full price). Click on any of the trainings below to learn more.
