2004 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings

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2004 ACEEE Informal Sessions Descriptions

Additional Informal Sessions may be organized on-site during the Summer Study. Visit the office in Surf and Sand to sign up for an Informal Session.

Session Synopsis - "The Green Building Studio CEC PIER Project – Mobilizing Industry Support
Establishing the Green Building Studio Consortium"

John Kennedy, GeoPraxis
Nancy Jenkins, California Energy Commission
Grant Duhon, Pacific Gas & Electric
Jon Pitman, Autodesk

Tuesday, August 24
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

The California Energy Commission, Pacific Gas & Electric, and GeoPraxis have launched the Green Building Studio, a free whole building energy analysis service used in today's CAD tools from Autodesk and Graphisoft. This session will give a demonstration of this market disruptive technology, and the major industry support it has received. Since April 21, 2004, over 1,100 architects and engineers have registered and are now using the Green Building Studio from within their CAD applications for immediate whole building energy use estimates as well as supporting downstream data transfers to eQuest, DOE-2.2, EnergyPlus, and Trane's TRACE 700. The major HVAC manufacturers have adopted the XML schema associated with the Green Building Studio, “gbXML” for data transfer between programs, eliminating the need for costly and inaccurate plan take-offs at each stage of building and measure analysis. After a short demonstration, the discussion will move towards what implications this technology has for streamlining building design, delivering energy efficiency programs, and integrating with national movements.

The second hour of this session will explore the establishment of an industry-wide consortium necessary to support Green Building Studio. The session is open to interested parties from international, national, regional, and local organizations involved in high efficiency and green building design and LEED certification, as well as utilities and other organizations promoting or transforming the design of commercial and residential buildings. The Green Building Studio web service, launched in April, transforms building design, providing early design stage whole building energy analysis integrated with major CAD design tools from Autodesk and Graphisoft. Developed through PIER funding from the California Energy Commission, and support from the California Utilities, Green Building Studio is now operational and provides whole building energy analysis free of charge to design teams. To successfully transform the marketplace, the Green Building Studio will require continued funding and support during 2005 and 2006, as the 3D-CAD tools necessary for design are also adopted by the industry. Although various organizations are now stepping up, a consortium of industry leaders will be required to support operations and marketing until the CAD user adoption curve is bridged. This session will explore the funding options and look for commitments from others in the industry necessary to form a industry-wide consortium supporting Green Building Studio over the next two years.

For more information, contact:

John Kennedy
GeoPraxis
e-mail: jfk@geopraxis.com

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