[Equest-users] eQUEST for existing buildings

[Nicholas Caton]

Hello Effiong!


  1.  Constructively:  Determining metrics like energy performance and carbon footprint of an existing building does not require a building simulation.  This is most easily and time-efficiently done by marrying 12 consecutive months of the most recently available utility bills with a spreadsheet.  When performing a utility analysis and as a best practice, I advise seeking out at least the most recent 24 months when possible – this will enable you to observe year-over-year variances that help to tell a story which may helpfully inform/contextualize the performance metrics developed for your project.  If you intend to build an energy model for other reasons, you will benefit from performing a separate utility analysis first.  After collecting this historical information and (at your option) producing such performance metrics, you could then develop and calibrate a building energy simulation model (i.e. eQUEST) to better reflect the historical energy usage.



  1.  The easiest tool in my toolbox might be a hammer, but that’s not helpful if you intend to change the oil in your car.  Please add to your query some extra information:  What analysis are you trying to perform?  What familiarity/skillsets to you possess with other building design software packages?  When you say “easy,” do you mean in terms of time-investment to become proficient?



The easiest tool to visualize and perform a historical utility analysis is Excel, in my opinion.  I’m aware of other database development and visualization tools / suites, and have dabbled with a few, but so far nothing beats my experience with Excel considering its versatility and capacity to perform fast, dynamic, and in-depth explorations and visualizations of utility data.

To answer in a general fashion, and assuming you’re still asking about the doe2/eQuest platform, I consider eQUEST relative to other building simulation platforms & tools I have sampled to have a “medium-hard” learning curve to arrive at a place where you can develop your first set of successful simulation results (depends upon your experience, aptitudes, the learning environment, and time / resources available).  There exist both more and less “approachable” alternatives in the world of building energy simulation.  In exchange however, eQUEST offers many layers of potential for accurate, flexible, & complex analysis that simpler platforms do not offer.  It is a skillset/tool easy to recommend for a long-term career involving energy analysis.

If on the other hand you require something you can pick up (learn) more quickly without as substantial a time investment, there are simpler options out there.  In that case it becomes much more important to convey the specific analysis you hope to perform as one could recommend simpler and purpose-built tools for specific energy cost saving measures.


~Nick
[cid:image001.png at 01D374E7.E5B68D90]
Nick Caton, P.E., BEMP
  Senior Energy Engineer
  Regional Energy Engineering Manager
  Energy and Sustainability Services
  Schneider Electric

D  913.564.6361
M  785.410.3317
F  913.564.6380
E  nicholas.caton at schneider-electric.com<mailto:nicholas.caton at schneider-electric.com>

15200 Santa Fe Trail Drive
Suite 204
Lenexa, KS 66219
United States

[cid:image002.png at 01D374E7.E5B68D90]



From: Equest-users [mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Effiong Edentekhe via Equest-users
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2017 6:12 AM
To: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: [Equest-users] eQUEST for existing buildings

Compliments,

Please how do I go about using eQUEST for determining the energy performance and carbon footprint of already existing buildings?

And is this the easiest software that I can use or are there other easier to use recommendations?

Thank you for your quick response.

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