TA-23-C080 – Scaling Decarbonization with Early-Stage Energy Modeling

Scaling decarbonization efforts to every project globally or even nationally is a challenging task. A key component of the design process for decarbonization is early-stage energy modeling of the building performance. Traditionally, this can be a time consuming and costly undertaking and when considering the resources required to implement on every project nationally the challenge can appear insurmountable. Alternative tools that use reduced-order modeling are now available that provide performance feedback within minutes. This unlocks the potential for low-budget and fast paced projects to measure and reduced their carbon impact. However, the results of these models often do not match exactly their more complex counterparts, leading to concerns around their use. This study will compare one reduced-order energy simulation engine and one whole-building energy engine to quantify the similarities and differences of the inputs and results. Use cases for each in the decarbonization workflow will be highlighted and best practices for communicating the differences shared.