SBIC Signs Agreement to Distribute Energy-Modeling Software

By Consulting Specifying Engineer Staff May 26, 2005

The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) signed an exclusive worldwide agreement with the Midwest Research Institute (MRI)—the management and operating contractor for the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)—to distribute Energy-10, Ver. 1.7, a software package for designing energy-saving, climate-responsive buildings.

Energy-10 is an energy-modeling software tool for smaller, two-thermal-zone buildings, and is one of the energy analysis tools approved under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program. Energy-10 daylighting and total building energy-use performance reports facilitate the LEED submission process.

“Building design professionals need an accurate, user-friendly energy simulation tool now more than ever to be truly sustainable,” says SBIC Executive Director Helen English. “Energy efficiency and renewable energy are at the heart of SBIC’s mission.”

Energy-10 is PC-based software that helps designers identify the most cost-effective, energy-saving measures for small commercial and residential buildings early in the design process. The software can identify the best combination of energy-efficient strategies, including daylighting controls, passive solar heating and high-efficiency mechanical systems to name a few. It usually takes less than an hour at a project’s outset to produce a simulation, but that small investment of time can result in energy savings of 40% to 70%.

Energy-10 was a collaborative effort funded by DOE and included NREL, SBIC and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). “We welcome the opportunity to partner with groups like SBIC to facilitate technology transfer to industry,” explains Ron Judkoff, director of NREL’s Buildings & Thermal Systems Center.