Energy Modeling Further Demystified

Building on the previous post on energy modeling, there is another introduction to the process posted over at BuildingGreen called "Understanding the Energy Modeling Process: Simulation Literacy 101". Great read for beginners such as myself.

I found out about the above article thanks to Suzanne O'Leary of ThinkDwell--a company that designs homes making the occupants absurdly and a bit creepily happy according to the picture on their homepage. Suzanne has started what is sure to become a very helpful forum on energy modeling issues called EnergyModeler.com. The site is brand new and will need to develop an audience (that's you!) before it really provides a good base of info, but RealLifeLEED supports any and all online communities that could make sustainable design simpler for everyone. Check it out now!

LEED Forum Fun!

I ♥ Online Communities

Believe it or not, there are times (read: most of the time) RealLifeLEED has a question he needs help with and can't find an answer. As a general rule, that's when I fish the question out to the internet at large. Between AREForums' LEED section, 4specs.com's Sustainable Design Topics Section, and to a lesser extent DesignCommunity's LEED and Green Certification forum, you can normally get an answer or some form of guidance within a day or so. Of the three, AREForum is the most responsive, 4specs is the most credible, and DesignCommunity... well... there's a fair amount of yelling but it can be interesting.

Not This Forum

The USGBC hosts a Member to Member (M2M) exchange, but as the name implies you must work for a USGBC member company to have access, so it's usefulness is limited. It's organized by profession (architect, engineer, contractor, etc.) which is a pretty useless organization strategy given sustainability's emphasis on INTEGRATED design. Worse still is the fact that comments are ordered by the date the initial post instead of last comment, so new comments are frequently buried. Hopefully a rework of this system will be unveiled alongside the LEED-Online improvements scheduled with the roll-out of LEED 2009.

Getting to the point...

So what this all means is there's a fair amount of usefull information available buried in many of these forums. I'm going to start posting helpful forum posts on RealLifeLEED on a "vague time period" basis starting... NOW!

Forum Round-Up 1

• Quick LEED For Schools Cost Estimate - AREForum
• Recycled Content and Regional Material Calcs - AREForum
• Fees for Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms? - AREForum
• Which Credits Use FTEs? - AREForum
• Non-LEED Sustainable Design Specifying - 4Specs
• 500 Miles - 4Specs

Por que, Brutae?

Hi. I'm Joel. I'm a LEED AP. The first thing I learned when after I earned my LEED accreditation is how much I still didn't know. There's plenty of information out there on how to design sustainably, but precious little info on how to get your documentation done. Sure, I know I need to know the full time equivalent occupancy for my restaurant and also the peak loading, but how the hell do I get those numbers? This blog is an attempt to fill that void. I've previously posted questions on the 4specs.com discussion forum (highly recommended), the designcommunity.com "LEED and Green Certification Forum" (less helpful but still worth the time), and the USGBC's own Member to Member exchange (a surprising waste of time, though it looks like it's getting more use these days). The first few posts in this blog will likely be familiar to those who frequent these forums. I've taught LEED AP classes at our firm and with local EGB groups, and also given presentations on managing LEED documentation and materials selection. In no way would I ever claim that I'm an expert, but I feel like I can help with some of the problems I've encountered in the past. Please use the comment features to add your experience, call me an idiot, etc. I'm not a consultant, and so please don't try to hire me! I'm very happy with my current job as a researcher at a great architecture firm, and don't plan on leaving any time soon. I just want to provide a forum for those of us tasked with actually certifying buildings to get things done.