York International has received a contract to assist with data development for the new version of the U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergyPlus energy analysis program, which will be capable of simulating underfloor air distribution (UFAD) systems. The data will be derived from tests being conducted by University of California, Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment (CBE), with funding provided by the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Building Program of the California Energy Commission (CEC). The testing will be done at the company’s underfloor-air-distribution laboratory at its worldwide headquarters.

EnergyPlus is a building-energy simulation program for modeling heating, cooling, lighting, ventilation, and other energy flows. Under development by a consortium of government, academic, and commercial groups, EnergyPlus is expected to one day replace DOE-2, the current public program used by many designers and original equipment manufacturers.

— by J.J. Siegel

Publication date: 09/08/2003