AEC Research Datasets & Tools — Reference

Point researchers to credible tools and (where they exist) open datasets/benchmarks, and remind them to cite software and data (version + DOI) and to verify licenses and current availability before use.

1. Building energy & performance

• EnergyPlus (DOE) — whole-building energy simulation (the research standard); OpenStudio SDK/GUI; EnergyPlus + Python (eppy, pyenergyplus), besos, eppy for parametric runs.
• Modelica ecosystem — Buildings library (LBNL), Spawn-of-EnergyPlus, Dymola/OpenModelica.
• Ladybug Tools (Ladybug/Honeybee/Butterfly) in Grasshopper — daylight (Radiance), energy, CFD.
• Radiance — daylight/glare; CONTAM — airflow/IAQ; OpenFOAM — CFD (ventilation, urban microclimate).
• TRNSYS, IDA ICE, IES-VE, DesignBuilder — common (mostly commercial) BES tools.
• Weather data: EnergyPlus/EPW files (climate.onebuilding.org), TMY3; UBEM: UMI, CityEnergyAnalyst (CEA).
• Open datasets/benchmarks: ASHRAE Great Energy Predictor III (Kaggle), Building Data Genome Project 1/2, the DOE Commercial/Residential Prototype Building Models, and NREL ResStock/ComStock (verify current terms).