Hi everyone. In the legacy version of Honeybee the balance temperature calculation was super useful for initial studies. To replicate it in Honeybee Energy is there a workaround as this component is not yet released for LBT?
Hey @Asisnath ,
I was wondering if we should port this over to the LBT plugin since I had come to see the component as taking a step backwards from directly using the data you have from the energy simulation. It’s like you set up a whole sophisticated energy simulation that not only accounts for gains/losses from outside temperature but also accounts for solar and internal gains. Then, you take the whole of this detailed result and pretend like the heating + cooling is only a function of the outdoor temperature. It’s not that this is wholly inaccurate but it’s sorta like taking a nice Ferrari or Tesla and driving it like it’s a go-cart. A more accurate way to make use of the energy simulation result is just to use the hourly heating + cooling straight out of the simulation.
Maybe I should just ask how you were using the balance temperature component previously? If we can change that workflow over to one that makes direct use of heating/cooling results, then let’s do that. If not, then it’s very easy to make a LBT version of this component.
Hey @chris. I agree with what you said. As balance point temp. is only depending on cooling and heating results, it is faster and accurate in using this data directly. To answer your question balance temp. was quite useful in initial design form optimization as in radiation benefit studies, generating blinds schedules over it, generating schedules for window ventilation etc. Performing a shoebox energy simulation for balance point at initial stages of the design was the way for me for quick feedbacks. I may be incorrect but using annual loads component and taking outputs for heating and cooling for balance point should be the way.
Hey @Asisnath ,
Thanks for providing a few use cases. For the case of radiation benefit, I recommend using the hourly cooling and heating load in order to apply a conditional statement about which hours are helpful and which are harmful. This is going to be more accurate than reducing the simulation to a single balance temperature and using that.
However, the case of determining control strategies is an important one. I realize that, a lot of the time in real buildings, certain dynamic building elements like electrochromic glass will use outdoor temperature or sky temperature to override tinting behavior. So there’s still a need to answer the question of which temperature setpoint should be selected for the override. Ok, I will add the component in once I get the chance.
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Balance temperature component has been added:
Here’s a sample:
Balance_Temperature-Sample.gh (94.1 KB)
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