EnergyPlus models heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other energy flows as well as water in buildings. While originally based on the most popular features and capabilities of BLAST and DOE-2, EnergyPlus includes many innovative simulation capabilities such as time steps of less than an hour, modular systems and plant integrated with heat balance-based zone simulation, multizone air flow, thermal comfort, water use, natural ventilation, and photovoltaic systems.

About EnergyPlus

This section provides an overview of the EnergyPlus building energy simulation software as well as its history and goals. It also shows beginning users how to run EnergyPlus, tells them what files are needed for to execute the software, and what files are produced when EnergyPlus runs successfully. It also provides guidance on how to determine sources of errors when EnergyPlus runs into problems and how serious those problems might be.
Energy Plus is a stand-alone simulation program without a 'user friendly' graphical interface. EnergyPlus reads input and writes output as text files. Currently, there are a variety of interfaces available or under development. Check the Interfaces and Other Tools page for up-to-date information.

•    Getting Started and Overview (PDF 501 KB)