Thailand Building Energy Simulation Models Development Guidelines

Abstract

This research is a part of the promotion of energy efficiency in commercial building project by the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, Ministry of Energy. The objective of this project is to develop and promote the use of building energy simulation model that is suitable for Thailand’s context. The study results showed that BEC, Ecotect, and VisualDoe are the three most popular energy simulation programs being used in Thailand. They are mainly used to simulate a building’s total energy consumption and energy-efficient design measures in office buildings. The future building energy simulation model for Thailand should be able to accept files from other popular two- or three-dimensional design programs to mininize working time. The program’s graphic user interface structure must be designed for intuitive use, and should be easy to follow. The result must yield reasonable degree of correctness. Thailand’s database of building materials, building systems and weather data should be available within the program. The plan for the program’s future development and maintenance should also be available. The option to develop the existing open source program call OpenStudio, which is a SketchUp software plug-in, to suit Thailand context and to have an ability to calculate building performances in accordance with Thailand energy regulation is then selected.