Usage Instructions

Setup

To get started:

1. Either download OpenStudio 3.9.0 and install the Command Line Interface/EnergyPlus components, or use the nrel/openstudio docker image.

2. Download the latest release release.

Note

If the openstudio command is not found, it’s because the executable is not in your PATH. Either add the executable to your PATH or point directly to the executable found in the openstudio-X.X.X/bin directory.

Running Calculations

Run all calculations (e.g., ERI, ENERGY STAR, etc.) on a provided sample HPXML file as follows:

openstudio workflow/energy_rating_index.rb -x workflow/sample_files/base.xml

Note that all simulations will be executed in parallel if there are sufficient cpus/cores available.

This will generate output as shown below:

You can also request generation of timeseries output CSV files by providing one or more timeseries flags. Some examples:

openstudio workflow/energy_rating_index.rb -x workflow/sample_files/base.xml --hourly ALL

openstudio workflow/energy_rating_index.rb -x workflow/sample_files/base.xml --monthly fuels --monthly temperatures

You can also skip simulations (i.e., just generate the ERI Reference/Rated Home HPXMLs) by using, e.g.:

openstudio workflow/energy_rating_index.rb -x workflow/sample_files/base.xml --skip-simulation

Or you can request all output files in JSON (instead of CSV) format:

openstudio workflow/energy_rating_index.rb -x workflow/sample_files/base.xml --output-format json

Or you can generate a HERS diagnostic output file using, e.g.:

openstudio workflow/energy_rating_index.rb -x workflow/sample_files/base.xml --diagnostic-output

You can also specify the number of parallel processors to use when running simulations, e.g.:

openstudio workflow/energy_rating_index.rb -x workflow/sample_files/base.xml --num-proc 2

Run openstudio workflow/energy_rating_index.rb -h to see all available commands/arguments.

Output

Upon completion, results are provided in the console (stdout) as well as available in summary output files. See the Workflow Outputs section for a description of all available outputs.