Automated Building Energy Modeling and Assessment Tool (ABEMAT)

Buildings contribute to about 40% of total annual energy consumption in the U.S. and saving a small percentage of that can lead to significant economic and environmental impacts. Building Energy Modeling (BEM) tools are important in reducing building's energy consumption. Most of the available tools only provide total energy consumption related to HVAC system, lighting, hot water, and appliances. While fine-grained data may be available in some computer tools, the process for obtaining these data is time-consuming, error-prone, and requires software-related skills. This paper explains a developed tool that contributes in automation of building energy simulation and providing fine-grained outputs by using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and modified source code of energy simulation tools such as EnergyPlus and OpenStudio. This tool, which is referred to as ABEMAT (Automated Building Energy Modeling and Assessment Tool), receives gbXML file and provides users with the amount of heat transfer through every single building envelope component such as windows, doors, and walls through an automated process. ABEMAT's and EnergyPlus advanced outputs are compared for validation; the latter being a time consuming process and error-prone, which requires software-related skills compared to ABEMAT. Results showed similar findings indicating the functionality of ABEMAT in providing fine-grained outputs.