A method of energy simulation for dynamic building envelopes

Some emerging smart materials, like the variable-conductance vacuum insulation by changing hydrogen gas pressure, thermal adaptive coatings made by electronic fibers, and various sandwiched wall with controllable thermal properties, all present a rapid development in the material field related to dynamic building envelopes. As the envelope materials and construction processes move toward the smarter and more adaptive, it becomes more and more necessary to properly understand the potential energy performance made available through dynamic envelopes, especially on the whole-building energy scale. However, the challenge is that most current energy simulation methods with static (or a limited range) material settings are hard to fully support the energy analysis of these dynamic building envelopes. This research explored a parametric simulation method using the Energy Management System (EMS) module of EnergyPlus to meet the energy simulation needs of dynamic building envelopes. This method is discussed in this paper and also appears to producing expected results through a comparative energy analysis of an office model.