19. Jan 2011 - Simple and effective assessment of buildings in terms of energy utilisation

Abstract

Yesterday, the EnOB “Buildings of the Future” Symposium hosted the presentation of the Excel-based EnerCalC tool, which is particularly suited for the energy-based characterisation of buildings during the preliminary design phases. EnerCalC considerably reduces the effort required for assessing buildings in terms of their energy performance compared with procedures according to DIN V 18599, and at the same time enables the energy balancing of zero-energy and energy-plus buildings while incorporating the energy infrastructure at the location. EnerCalC is now freely available for research, teaching and all non-commercial applications.

more details

The balancing process according to the German calculation standard DIN V 18599 has been frequently criticised because of its complexity and time-consuming application. Calls to simplify the process came soon after the pre-standard series was first published. The Excel-based EnerCalC tool has now been developed as part of a research project. With relatively little input expenditure, it enables the energy performance for a building to be balanced in a simplified manner, but still with respect to DIN V 18599. In addition, the program enables simplified primary energy balancing and provides information for designing the respective building as a “net-zero-energy building”. Additional spreadsheets enable the amount of detail to be increased as required.

The EnerCalC Excel tool was created as part of a dissertation written for the Department of Building Physics and Technical Building Services at the University of Wuppertal and was used to develop and validate simplification methods based on the balancing rules provided by DIN V 18599. The simplification methods applied in EnerCalC are currently investigated for incorperation  in the next update of the German building energy code (EnEV 2012).