April Fools Day 2008: DOE released the Google SketchUp (GSU) plugin for Energy+.

Grab the Energy+ SketchUp product here

With the recent release of two very different tools into the SketchUp world, I believe we have taken a quantum leap in the direction of ubiquitous simulation. The first of these released was the Rahe-Kraft SU2CATT product which exports building data to CATT Acoustic. Daysim has been around for some time allowing Daylight Autonomy and similar analyses of buildings modelled in SketchUp. With the release of the Energy+ interface, the major environmental control issues are largely dealt with. If only Fluent, or perhaps Flo-Vent were to produce a similar interface, we might be able to add CFD flow analyses to complete the mix.

If we look at the goals that Andrew Marsh has apparently had for a long time with his excellent Ecotect product, then the Achilles heel of that product has always been its 3D modelling interface. Some years ago, it was absolutely essential to getting the product accepted. It remains an essential part of the GUI data analysis / output analysis. However, my experience as a lazy user (typical of my students as well) is that the modelling interface gets in the way of the analyses I want to do. It is so time consuming and stressful that by the time I have a working model I have used too much time and all I want to do is get AN ANSWER. To get THE ANSWER via a process of iterative variation of design ideas just seems too much trouble.

The use of SketchUp allows the user to create a building model for simulation VERY quickly and intuitively. It allows the software people to focus on the thing they are good at (Energy / Daylight / Acoustic modelling ) rather than on visualisation and geometrical modelling. It brings closer my personal Nirvana: Skecth design using full simulation tools, rather than cut-down 'simplifications'. What is most important to me, after many years of working with various geometry exporters based on the autodesk 3ds or dxf formats, is that in the experiments I have done with Daysim and CATT, the models exported from SketchUp are much less complex. Fewer polygons. Less calculation time. Less need for this type of geometry simplification.

The new Energy+ interface most closely meets the requirements of the Simulation Quality Assurance philosophy expressed in this web site. It offers some really interesting options for us in modelling reliably. I can see a future where the Google Warehouse contains some Web 3.0 semantic data that enables someone building a GSU Energy+ model to start by finding a match to an existing calibrated model based upon monitored data.

Watch this space.

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