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My experiences with doing large numbers of DOE-2 parametrics are
similar. As an old geezer, I have always (and continue to) run
DOE-2 using batch scripts. When I got a quad-core desktop computer 5
years ago, I would simply open up 4 command prompt windows and then
dump a batch of DOE-2 runs in each. For the simple residential
model I was using, a single DOE-2 run, including postprocessing
using awk scripts, would take less than a second, so I could get 5-6
runs done every second. That allowed me to build a data base of
400,000 runs for window films, that being the project goal, in a
little over 24 hours. <br>
<br>
Joe
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Joe Huang
White Box Technologies, Inc.
346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A
Moraga CA 94556
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:yjhuang@whiteboxtechnologies.com">yjhuang@whiteboxtechnologies.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com">http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com</a> for simulation-ready weather data
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.whiteboxtechnologies.com">http://www.whiteboxtechnologies.com</a>
(o) (925)388-0265
(c) (510)928-2683
"building energy simulations at your fingertips"
</pre>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/11/2015 4:01 PM, Aaron Powers
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAHbO9KnW13EYUhB=Zb6CyGWsHvhhLBx6GP48UAc-bV3M_9H06g@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"></span>
<div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Patrick,<br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">We did run these directly in
the DOE2 engine without the eQuest interface. There are
several good existing tools for running many simulations
including the parametric runs feature in eQuest, but we went
a different route with a custom developed tool so that we
could run our algorithms and not eat up hard drive space.
Each simulation, including writing the inp and reading the
results, was running in about 3 seconds. We could get up to
4 DOE2 simulations to run in parallel simultaneously, so
each process could produce 15000 simulations in about 12.5
hours. This gave us 4x15000 = 60000 simulations overnight.<br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Aaron<br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="color:rgb(54,96,146)"><br>
</span><br>
---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
From: "Lapierre, Patrick" <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:plapierre@bpa.ca" target="_blank">plapierre@bpa.ca</a>><br>
To: Nicholas Caton <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:ncaton@catonenergy.com" target="_blank">ncaton@catonenergy.com</a>>,
"<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:equest-users@lists.onebuilding.org"
target="_blank">equest-users@lists.onebuilding.org</a>" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:equest-users@lists.onebuilding.org"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:equest-users@lists.onebuilding.org">equest-users@lists.onebuilding.org</a></a>><br>
Cc: "Sloat, Cara" <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:Cara.Sloat@wspgroup.com" target="_blank">Cara.Sloat@wspgroup.com</a>><br>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2015 13:35:03 +0000<br>
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] Team eQUEST: Lowdown Showdown
Report<br>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(54,96,146)">Congratulations
on the award and a very impressive work!
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(54,96,146)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(54,96,146)">I’m
amazed by the results of your mutli-variable optimization
algorithms. I wouldn’t have thought that doing so would
improve the optimization effort by 20%, in comparison to a
standard optimization process. I’m also intrigued in how
you could achieve 60 000 runs overnight on a single PC.
Did you use parametric runs in eQUEST or you worked
directly via DOE-2? I’m not quite familiar with programing
parametric runs or the like directly in DOE-2 so I’m not
sure how you di dit but would sure like to know how.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(54,96,146)"> </span></p>
<span style="color:rgb(54,96,146)">Thanks for sharing the
results of your experience, it sure looked like one amazing
project.</span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This year at the 2015
ASHRAE Energy Modeling Conference, there was a “Lowdown
Showdown” design competition. Voluntary teams
representing most commercial energy simulation software
packages & platforms tried to tackle a relatively open
design challenge to bring a building (of our own design)
down to net-zero energy. The relatively small team
representing eQUEST/DOE-2 won an award by popular vote for
the “Most Creative” design solution!
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The eQUEST team had 5
members (all CC’ed on this email thread) - you may
recognize a few as frequent contributors over these
mailing lists:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span
style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">Aaron Powers</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span
style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">Cara Sloat </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span
style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">Pasha
Korber-Gonzales</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span
style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">Chris Jones</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Symbol" lang="EN-US"><span>·<span
style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">Nick Caton</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I served as ‘coach’
for the team, and in that context am very proud to share
some new information concerning our collaborative efforts,
design process, and the final ‘product’ with the greater
eQUEST-users community. Those who were able to attend the
conference experienced a live presentation by
representatives for the teams and a panel discussion with
all of the coaches to field questions/challenges from the
audience, but time was quite constrained. This this is an
opportunity to share with those who could not attend and
to convey/discuss things in more detail.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Attached is a ‘poster’
that covers much of the information we presented for the
project, and outlines the process we followed over the ~9
weeks we had to collaborate. We accomplished a great deal
in the time we had, in spite of a late start due to some
difficulties in assembling the minimum # of members
required. The team met weekly via VOIP calls (Skype/<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://join.me"
target="_blank">join.me</a>) to coordinate efforts,
present individual findings, and to simply share knowledge
and relate/compare experiences. As a group, each
individual identified and contributed
challenges/problems/systems of interest early on, and as a
group we made it a goal to incorporate those elements into
our project along the way. This ‘spirit’ to tackle
new/interesting issues and to avoid “easy/obvious”
solutions lead to some interesting design decisions along
the way! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I initially thought I
would make it a personal goal to ensure the project would
be engaging, informative, and rewarding for every
participant, but I learned that with the right group that
is going to happen anyway! My only regret is that more of
my friends and colleagues in the industry did not get to
participate. I sincerely hope when the next opportunity
comes along, more individuals from this community will
take the initiative to participate – it was very much
worth our time! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">If anybody would like
to learn more or ask questions, please freely reply to
this email thread!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Kind regards,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">~Nick</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(0,32,96)" lang="EN-US">NICK
CATON, P.E.</span></b><span
style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)"
lang="EN-US"><br>
</span><b><span style="color:rgb(86,23,130)" lang="EN-US">Owner</span></b><span
lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:rgb(86,23,130)"
lang="EN-US"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10pt;color:rgb(86,23,130)" lang="EN-US">Caton
Energy Consulting</span></b><span
style="font-size:10pt;color:black" lang="EN-US"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:10pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)"
lang="EN-US"> 306 N Ferrel</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:10pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" lang="EN-US">
Olathe, KS 66061</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:10pt;color:rgb(31,73,125)" lang="EN-US">
office: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="tel:785.410.3317" value="+17854103317"
target="_blank">785.410.3317</a></span><span
lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<span style="font-size:10pt;color:rgb(86,23,130)" lang="EN-US"><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.catonenergy.com"
target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(86,23,130)"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.catonenergy.com">www.catonenergy.com</a></span></a></span></div>
</div>
<br>
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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