Overview

OpenBuildings Energy Simulator comes as standard as part of the OpenBuildings Designer installation.

OpenBuildings Designer consists of multiple engineering disciplines, such as architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical. The energy analysis of buildings is one such discipline incorporated via OpenBuildings Energy Simulator.

To use OpenBuildings Energy Simulator please install OpenBuildings Designer.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON PARTL:

Update 8 remains the approved version for PartL for now. This must be used to produce XML files for submission.

As soon as Update 9 is approved by building control it will be announced on the Energy Simulator Forum here.

Method

Step One: Download

You will firstly need to download the installer from: https://softwaredownloads.bentley.com/.  Only your site administrator will have access to the downloads - to obtain access please contact your admin. Steps to obtain access yourself can be found here.

From the Brand dropdown, select OpenBuildings and then click Apply:

Select OpenBuildings Designer to proceed to the download screen. (Note there is only one OpenBuildings Designer installation - there is no particular one for OpenBuildings Energy Simulator). Select the latest version as shown below, and click Download:

Step Two: Install

Once downloaded, select Run and the below screen will appear. Here, select Configure to obtain your regional dataset (e.g. NM), as detailed in this article.

Note: If you have a previous version of OpenBuildings on your machine you do not need to uninstall it beforehand. 

Then, to install, tick the License Agreement as below and select Install.

The installation will commence and after a few moments you should be able to open the software as shown here.