BEMGen 1.10.0

BEMGen 1.10.0 reads release 2.4.0 of the Energy Archetype Atlas and can write its unoccupied lighting cap (D-253 to D-260).

Changed

• BEMGen reads atlas release 2.4.0: program JSON 6.1.0; the construction JSON is unchanged (unified 4.0.0, detailed 5.0.0).
• Program texts of releases 2.0.0 to 2.3.0 are refused, whether wired in or stored in a definition, and so are DOE maps and atlas mixes holding them. The message names each program's ID in release 2.4.0, and Get from Atlas… stores the new text again.
• Schedule Draw uses atlas-schedules 4.1.1.

New

• Convert2IDF's input Lighting Cap (off by default) writes the atlas's unoccupied lighting cap, PNNL's 90.1-2019 rule for the offices, restaurants, retail, and warehouse, as an EnergyPlus EMS program for each zone whose people are not zero at all times. In a year's run of the 90.1-2019 medium office it uses 2.5 % less lighting energy.

From the atlas, now read

• PNNL's lighting power for the 90.1 offices (90.1-2019 medium office 6.664 W/m²).
• PNNL's elevators and kitchen reach-ins, listed in Left Out as building services.

DOE generators since 1.9.0 (D-246 to D-252)

• the stand-alone retail's core and front keyed apart;
• the IECC offices offered, every key taking the whole-building program;
• IECC programs on the 90.1-2019 daylighting rule;
• DOE skylights by family, spread as the source places them.

Examples are rebuilt on atlas release 2.4.0.

Checks

• All 30 headless Rhino smoke specs pass in Rhino 8.25 with the released atlas-schedules 4.1.1 wheel.
• scripts/verify.ps1 passes on a fresh clone of the tagged commit.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.10.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.10.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha. If an earlier version is there, replace the whole folder.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.10.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/

BEMGen 1.9.0

BEMGen 1.9.0 reads release 2.3.0 of the Energy Archetype Atlas (D-239 to D-245).

Changed

• BEMGen reads atlas release 2.3.0: program JSON 6.0.0, unified constructions 4.0.0 and detailed constructions 5.0.0.
• Texts of releases 2.0.0 to 2.2.0 are refused, whether wired in or stored in a definition, and so are DOE maps and atlas mixes holding them. The message names each program's or set's ID in release 2.3.0, and Get from Atlas… stores the new text again.

New

• The DOE Programs components offer the six IECC families (2006 to 2021) for the eleven prototypes the atlas has them for, in their source version.
• Schedule Draw uses atlas-schedules 4.1.0 and can draw the DOE offices' programs and the IECC programs.
• A dwelling's window ratios follow its Context.
• Assumptions lists the filled version's absent demands.

Fixed in the atlas, now read

• The 152 DOE Ref unified construction documents (retail, small hotel, supermarket, warehouse) that 1.8.0 refused for their internal mass now import.

Review fixes since 1.8.0 (D-211 to D-236)

• the heat-transfer rule;
• refusal of an unresolved climate;
• the 90.1 crosswalk;
• opt-in code-rule daylighting;
• Get from Atlas… on Mix Programs and Construction JSON;
• canonical checksums.

Examples are rebuilt on atlas release 2.3.0.

Checks

• All 30 headless Rhino smoke specs pass in Rhino 8.25 with the released atlas-schedules 4.1.0 wheel.
• scripts/verify.ps1 passes on a fresh clone of the tagged commit.

Note: the README.md inside bemgen-1.9.0-examples.zip still says that three examples are not yet rebuilt. That is out of date: all of them are rebuilt on atlas release 2.3.0.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.9.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.9.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha. If an earlier version is there, replace the whole folder.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.9.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/

BEMGen 1.8.0

BEMGen 1.8.0 is a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 8 that builds building energy models at several levels of detail.

What's new

• Programs from the atlas site. BEMGen can now take its programs from the Energy Archetype Atlas site (https://energy-atlas.github.io/archetype-atlas/). The network is used only after you click in one of the windows below. Every solve reads only the definition, so stored programs solve offline.
  • Program JSON: Get from Atlas… opens a window with the atlas site. On a program's page, Use this program downloads its program JSON (filled by default, or source), checks it against the site, and stores it in the component.
  • Program JSON: Edit JSON… opens a window to paste or edit the program JSON text. OK checks the text before it is stored.
  • Each DOE … Programs component: Get from Atlas… opens a window with five atlas families: DOE Ref pre-1980, DOE Ref 1980–2004, 90.1-2007, 90.1-2013, and 90.1-2019. Each family shows how many of the prototype's program keys it covers. OK stores every key's atlas program in place of the illustrative presets. The window-to-wall ratios stay those of the DOE reference building. Clear returns to the illustrative presets.
    • New optional inputs Climate Zone, Year, Holidays, and Context apply to a stored atlas map.
    • A new output, JSON, gives each key's program text.
    • The 90.1 families split or rename up to four space types, so a few keys have no program there. Such a key is named in an error, and Presets leaves its position empty, so you can complete the map with DOE Program Map.
  • Schedule Draw: Get from Atlas… stores the generation.json of the atlas folder of the program in Program JSON. The atlas has no generation.json for its detailed office folders, so programs of the DOE small, medium, and large office cannot be drawn yet. The window says so.
• New example: doe-atlas-map.gh, the DOE medium office with the atlas's 90.1-2007 programs stored in DOE Medium Office Programs. It solves without a network.

Changes that affect existing definitions

• Definitions saved with 1.7.0 open with their saved values. The DOE Programs components get the four new inputs, unset, and the JSON output, and solve as before.
• Program checksum: the checksum in Program JSON's Source is now that of the text with LF line endings. A definition whose stored text had CR LF line endings gets a new Source checksum once.
• The example definitions have been rebuilt with 1.8.0.
• Windows only: the atlas windows use WebView2.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.8.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.8.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha. If an earlier version is there, replace the whole folder.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.8.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/

BEMGen 1.7.0

BEMGen 1.7.0 is a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 8 that builds building energy models at several levels of detail.

What's new

• Schedule Draw uses the atlas schedule generator 4.0.0. Schedule Draw in 1 Program now runs atlas-schedules 4.0.0, which carries atlas release 2.2.0 with it.
  • Install it separately: download atlas_schedules-4.0.0-py3-none-any.whl and SHA256SUMS.txt from the atlas release atlas-schedules-v4.0.0, check the file with sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt --ignore-missing, and run python -m venv <folder> and <folder>\Scripts\python -m pip install atlas_schedules-4.0.0-py3-none-any.whl (Python 3.11 or later). An environment with 3.0.0 is upgraded with pip install --upgrade and the same wheel.
  • Its Generator JSON input now takes the generation.json of the program's folder in atlas release 2.2.0 (v2.2.0/<family>/<template>/<type>/generation.json in atlas-release-2.2.0.zip of the atlas release v2.2.0), in place of the earlier generator.json.
  • Its setting is version 2.0.0: "schema_version": "2.0.0", the generator version 4.0.0 and bundle schema 4.0.0, and no view. The program JSON's own version (filled or source) chooses the values the generator draws from.
  • The draw records the atlas release it read and that release's manifest checksum.
• Atlas release 2.2.0. Program JSON and Construction JSON read the exports of atlas release 2.2.0. Exports of releases 2.0.0 and 2.1.0 remain valid; the contracts did not change, and later releases of the same program JSON contract are read too.

Changes that affect existing definitions

• Definitions saved with 1.6.0 open with their saved values.
• Drawing again with a 1.6.0 definition: replace its generator.json with the release 2.2.0 generation.json and its setting with a 2.0.0 setting. A 1.0.0 setting or a generator.json is refused with a message that says what to give instead.
• Drawn schedules: a program JSON drawn with 1.6.0 still reads. Drawing it again gives the same schedules wherever the atlas's checks show generator 4.0.0 equal to 3.0.0, for example the DOE Ref medium office of the example. The atlas found 263 of 266 sampled cases equal; the other 3 are hotel corridor compositions, which Schedule Draw does not draw. The atlas's 90.1 apartment-building common-area programs now carry their heat fractions, so their draws can differ.
• The example definitions have been rebuilt with 1.7.0; schedule-draw.gh holds the release 2.2.0 generation.json and a 2.0.0 setting.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.7.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.7.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha. If an earlier version is there, replace the whole folder.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.7.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/

BEMGen 1.6.0

BEMGen 1.6.0 is a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 8 that builds building energy models at several levels of detail.

What's new

• Schedule Draw. A new component in 1 Program draws stochastic 8,760-hour schedules (occupancy, lighting, equipment, hot water, activity, setpoints) for a program JSON with the schedule generator of the Energy Archetype Atlas, as an optional add-on to the program's own schedules. Its Drawn JSON goes into Program JSON.
  • It needs Python 3.11 or later and the generator atlas-schedules 3.0.0, installed separately: download atlas_schedules-3.0.0-py3-none-any.whl from the atlas release atlas-schedules-v3.0.0 and run python -m venv <folder> and <folder>\Scripts\python -m pip install atlas_schedules-3.0.0-py3-none-any.whl.
  • The component runs the generator as an external command, only while Run is true: set Command to <folder>\Scripts\atlas-schedules.exe. It passes files and opens no network connection.
  • Drawn schedules are for the calendar year 2007, and the same inputs and seed always give the same text. Apartment-unit and composition recipes are not supported yet.
  • The new example schedule-draw.gh opens with Run false, using the program's own schedules.
• DOE Reference Program. A new component in 1 Program gives source programs of the DOE MidriseApartment reference building (Chicago, 5A), with explicit acceptance of the geometry and daylight-saving departures.
• Atlas release 2.1.0. Program JSON and Construction JSON read the exports of atlas release 2.1.0, the one to download now; exports of release 2.0.0 remain valid (the contracts did not change).
• Fewer IDF surfaces. Convert2IDF merges a zone's coplanar floors, ceilings, and roofs, and windowless wall runs, into one surface where the result is a simple polygon. The IDF header lists the merges. This removes EnergyPlus view-factor warnings in large merged zones.
• Require Floor Research Eligibility. An opt-in input appended to Convert2IDF, false by default, for research comparisons of floor zonings.
• Fixes. Convert2IDF converts floors made of two rectangles meeting at one corner, and no longer writes tiny internal masses from rounding that made EnergyPlus fail.
• Tools beside the plugin. Test suites can draw schedules per test case (schedules:), the batch runner accepts one limited EnergyPlus warning about the outdoor wet-bulb iteration, and the test-suite generator builds the DOE prototypes for the geometric LOD study.

Changes that affect existing definitions

• Definitions saved with 1.5.0 open with their saved values. Convert2IDF shows the appended input Require Floor Research Eligibility, false.
• IDF files change where a zone has coplanar pieces: fewer surfaces, and annual loads that differ slightly from 1.5.0's (in the LOD study's pilot, by at most about 2 % of annual sensible heating for single-zone zonings over many rooms).
• The example definitions have been rebuilt with 1.6.0.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.6.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.6.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha. If an earlier version is there, replace the whole folder.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.6.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/

BEMGen 1.5.0

BEMGen 1.5.0 is a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 8 that builds building energy models at several levels of detail.

What's new

• DOE reference geometry. 15 plan generators for the DOE commercial reference buildings, each with its presets.
• Program JSON 5.4.0 and atlas release 2.0.0. Program JSON reads program JSON 5.4.0 exported from release 2.0.0 of the Energy Archetype Atlas.
  • Two new inputs, Climate Zone and Context, select the values that vary by climate and the loads that apply to that context.
  • A filled program's hot water takes the weather file's water mains.
• Construction JSON 4.3.0 / 3.1.0. Construction JSON reads the detailed and unified construction sets of atlas release 2.0.0.
  • With a set, ground floors take the set's own F-factor or layered ground construction.
  • IECC sets are read but not converted, because their infiltration is given per zone.
• Glazing per orientation. The preset components gain WWR North, WWR East, WWR South, WWR West and Skylight Ratio.
• Tools beside the plugin. The EnergyPlus batch runner gains paired evaluation metrics against a reference model: ideal sensible loads, peaks, hourly fit, temperature, and processor time and memory.

Changes that affect existing definitions

• Definitions saved with 1.4.0 open with their saved values. The new inputs are unset.
  • Program JSON's WWR no longer has a default: without it, the JSON's fenestration gives the glazing, else 0.4.
• Older atlas texts are refused. A Program JSON or Construction JSON holding program JSON 2.0.0, unified 2.0.0 or detailed 3.0.0 now gives an error asking for an export from atlas release 2.0.0.
• Daylighting is never written to an IDF. Programs from the atlas may carry daylighting controls, but Convert2IDF writes no Daylighting:Controls. Daylight dimming is held fixed as part of the lighting load, and the IDF header names the zones concerned.
• IDF files with ground floors also request the hourly inside-face conduction of each ground surface and Output:Surfaces:List, Details.
• The example definitions have been rebuilt with 1.5.0.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.5.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.5.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha. If an earlier version is there, replace the whole folder.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.5.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/ (the pages for 1.5.0 follow this release).

BEMGen 1.4.0

BEMGen 1.4.0 is a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 8 that builds building energy models at several levels of detail.

What's new

• Construction JSON. A new component in 1 Program, Construction JSON (CJson), reads the text of a whole-building construction set of the Energy Archetype Atlas into a Construction Set. The set holds one layered construction per envelope role, the window's glazing and any solar multiplier, the internal-mass data, and the infiltration. A set for a single dwelling is refused. A detailed set is read but not converted; connect the whole-building set of the same context instead.
• Constructions in Convert2IDF. Two inputs are appended to Convert2IDF:
  • Construction (Cons) takes the set and is used instead of Envelope. Connect one, not both.
  • Fill From Example (Fill, default false) lets a role the set lacks take the Example envelope's construction, with a warning. When it is false, such a role is an error. The ground always takes the Example's construction, with a remark.
• Internal mass balanced against the set. With a set, the heat capacity that the building's own walls and slabs do not represent is added as furnishing, wall, and floor mass. The IDF header lists the balance.

Changes that affect existing definitions

• Definitions saved with 1.3.0 open as they were, with Construction unset and Fill From Example false.
• IDF files of Single Zone Building and Single Zone per Floor Type buildings change, with any envelope. A slab inside a zone that spans storeys is now written as internal mass of twice its area at half its thickness, so its heat capacity counts once. Before, it counted twice.
• The example definitions have been rebuilt with 1.4.0.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.4.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.4.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha. If an earlier version is there, replace the whole folder.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.4.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/ (see Getting started, and What's new at https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/user/whats-new/).

BEMGen 1.3.0

BEMGen 1.3.0 is a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 8 that builds building energy models at several levels of detail.

What's new

• An IDF ready to simulate. Convert2IDF writes an EnergyPlus 26.2 input file (it was 25.2):
  • a new input, Weather, takes the path of an .epw weather file. The IDF gets Site:Location from the file's header, and the header and Provenance name the file with its SHA-256. Without one, EnergyPlus takes the location from the weather file it runs with;
  • hourly outputs: the meters behind heating, cooling, and the total load (only for what the building uses), the zone mean air temperature and ideal-loads heating and cooling of every zone, the annual summary tables, and an SQLite file;
  • ground temperatures of the building's monthly mean indoor setpoint minus 2 °C (20.5 °C with the built-in presets; 18 °C before);
  • non-convex outdoor surfaces, such as the roofs of L-, U-, and court-shaped plans, written as convex pieces of the same area, so that EnergyPlus computes their shadows correctly;
  • a case record in the header that names the building, the zoning, the weather file, and the envelope.
• Unmodelled storeys cast shadows. The storeys that Stacked Floor Zone Multiplier represents but does not model now cast shadows through opaque shading surfaces at their walls, in both converters. In a courtyard plan the wings shade each other again as with every storey modelled. Convert2BEM has a new output, Shading (31).
• Experiment outputs. The developer documentation defines what every simulated case yields and how it is compared with a reference case: annual and peak loads, EUI per conditioned and per total floor area, hourly CV(RMSE), load-duration-curve measures, building temperatures, runtime, and the case record.

Changes that affect existing definitions

• Definitions saved with 1.2.0 or 1.1.0 open as they were, with their values and wires; Weather is unset.
• Definitions saved with 1.0.2 or earlier still lose the infiltration values of their presets when they open, as described for 1.1.0.
• IDF files change: EnergyPlus 26.2, hourly meters instead of monthly ones, more output objects, different ground temperatures, and outdoor surfaces split into convex pieces where they were not convex. Simulate them with EnergyPlus 26.2.
• The example definitions have been rebuilt with 1.3.0.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.3.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.3.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha. If an earlier version is there, replace the whole folder.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.3.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/ (see Getting started, and What's new at https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/user/whats-new/).

BEMGen 1.2.0

BEMGen 1.2.0 is a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 8 that builds building energy models at several levels of detail.

What's new

• Program JSON (panel 1 Program) is a new component that turns the text of a program JSON 2.0.0 file from the Energy Archetype Atlas into a program preset.
  • It reads the defaulted export only, checks it against the program JSON schema and the contract's rules, and expands every schedule hour by hour on a Year (default 2007) and its Holidays.
  • WWR (default 0.4) and optional inputs for the name, space type, loads, heating and cooling, and the occupants complete or override the JSON.
  • Its outputs record where every value came from: the source, the atlas's assumptions, your overrides, and what was left out (shared services and design-day rules).
  • The new example program-json-office.gh uses the atlas's Medium Office program as the office of an Office Plate.
• Programs hold more. New inputs are added at the end of the components, so earlier inputs are unchanged:
  • Load: the basis PerDwellingUnit, an End Use that tells loads of one type apart, the heat fractions of lighting and equipment, and the target and inlet temperatures of hot water.
  • Program Preset and every built-in preset: Heating On and Cooling On, so a space can be only heated or only cooled. Program Preset also takes the occupants' Activity, People Radiant, and People Sensible.
  • Schedule: the kind Activity (W per person).
  • Mix Programs and every zone merge combine all of these. Per-dwelling loads merge by dwelling count.
  • The defaults are the values BEMGen used before, so the built-in presets give the same results as in 1.1.0.
• Converters:
  • Convert2BEM has nine new outputs, 22 to 30: load end uses, heat fractions, dwelling units, activity, people radiant and sensible fractions, hot-water target and inlet temperatures, and the calendar.
  • Convert2IDF writes the heat fractions, people settings, and water temperatures, uses a single heating or cooling thermostat for a zone with one side, and takes the run period's year from the calendar. Without a calendar the year is 2007, instead of 2018; both start on a Monday, so the schedules fall on the same weekdays.

Changes that affect existing definitions

• Definitions saved with 1.1.0 open as they were, with their values and wires; the new inputs take their defaults.
• Definitions saved with 1.0.2 or earlier still lose the infiltration values of their presets when they open, as described for 1.1.0.
• The example definitions have been rebuilt with 1.2.0.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.2.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.2.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha. If an earlier version is there, replace the whole folder.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.2.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/ (see Getting started, and What's new at https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/user/whats-new/).

BEMGen 1.1.0

BEMGen 1.1.0 is a Grasshopper plugin for Rhino 8 that builds building energy models at several levels of detail.

What's new

• Conditioned Merge (panel 3 Simplify) is a new plan simplifier. It merges every conditioned zone of a floor into one zone and every unconditioned zone, such as the stairs, into another. It keeps the conditioned floor area exactly, which Perimeter Core and Single Zone per Floor do not do when they cover a stair.
• Join Pieces is a new input on Semantic Merge and Conditioned Merge.
  • False (default): every connected piece becomes its own zone, as Semantic Merge did before.
  • True: every piece of a class becomes one zone. For example, all of a floor's separate stair cores become one stair zone.
  • In the previews, Convert2BEM, and Convert2IDF, a zone made of several pieces has one solid per piece.
• Mix Programs (panel 1 Program) is a new component that mixes program presets into a new preset. Each weight is the preset's share of floor area. The mix is calculated the same way a zone merge combines programs:
  • Loads per floor area and in air changes per hour are weighted by area share.
  • Loads per person are weighted by occupants.
  • Absolute loads, such as a fixture flow, are added as they are, without weights.
  • Schedules and setpoints mix as they do when zones merge.
  • The space type and window-to-wall ratio come from the largest weight and the weighted mean, unless you give them.
• Infiltration is now set once for the building, on Envelope Preset. It takes a rate per m² of exterior surface, per m² of exterior wall, or in air changes per hour, with a schedule. The default is 0.3 air changes per hour, always on.
  • Convert2IDF writes one infiltration object per zone, in EnergyPlus's own method.
  • Convert2BEM has four new outputs: the infiltration rate, its basis, its schedule, and each zone's design infiltration flow.

Changes that affect existing definitions

• Preset components no longer have Infiltration or Infiltration Schedule inputs.
  • The Load component no longer accepts the type Infiltration or the basis PerExteriorWallArea; it tells you to use Envelope Preset instead.
  • When you open a definition saved with an earlier version, Grasshopper shows a message about the removed inputs, and any infiltration values or wires on those inputs are dropped.
  • The building then uses the infiltration of its Envelope Preset, 0.3 air changes per hour by default. If your presets used other rates, set the rate on Envelope Preset.
• Definitions with Semantic Merge saved before this version open with Join Pieces set to false, so they give the same zones as before.
• The example definitions have been rebuilt with the new components.

Install

Close Rhino first. Install BEMGen in one way only, because two copies of BEMGen.gha register the components twice.

• Yak package: drag bemgen-1.1.0-rh8_19-win.yak onto a running Rhino 8.19 (or later) window, then restart Rhino.
• Zip:
  1. Open the properties of bemgen-1.1.0-rh8-win.zip and tick Unblock.
  2. Unpack it and copy the BEMGen folder into %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\, so the plugin is at %APPDATA%\Grasshopper\Libraries\BEMGen\BEMGen.gha.
  3. Restart Rhino.
• Examples: bemgen-1.1.0-examples.zip holds the example definitions.
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of each of the three files.

Documentation: https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/ (see Getting started, and What's new in 1.1.0 at https://energy-atlas.github.io/BEMGen-docs/user/whats-new/).