I firmly believe that scientists and engineers—particularly scientists, by the way—should learn about, and use, version control systems (VCS) for their work. Here is why. I’ve been a user of free VCSs for a while now, beginning with my first exposure to CVS at CERN in 2002, through my discovery of Subversion during my doctoral […]
About two weeks ago I posed the following question on the Bldg-sim mailing list: Where can I find a list of publications relevant to the field of building simulation? I’m particularly interested in refereed journals and books. The ensuing thread has been extremely helpful, in particular Shanta Tucker who pointed me to the IBPSA website. […]
Several home automation enthusiasts met again at LESO-PB to discuss recent developments in the field. There were four of us this time, Adil, Friedrich, David and yours truly. Friedrich openened the discussion by telling us about his ongoing work on the influence of light, especially its color, on human health. Early results suggest that proper […]
From Solar Energy vol 82 issue 11, 2008: Long-term performance calculations based on steady-state efficiency test results: Analysis of optical effects affecting beam, diffuse and reflected radiation, by Pedro Horta, Maria João Carvalho, Manuel Collares Pereira, Wildor Carbajal There are a growing number of commercially available solar thermal collector types: flat plates, evacuated tubes with […]
We met again on November 3 to discuss recent events in the field of building simulation and automation. This time we were joined by Adil Rasheed, a PhD student at LESO-PB working on the so-called “meso scale modelling of urban heat island effect.” David Daum and Antoine Guillemin were the other participants, besides yours truly. […]
The following articles from the last issue of Journal of Building Physics will probably be of interest to building simulationists and automationists. Accuracy of Energy Analysis of Buildings: A Comparison of a Monthly Energy Balance Method and Simulation Methods in Calculating the Energy Consumption and the Effect of Thermal Mass, by Timo Kalema, Gudni Jóhannesson, […]
The following articles from the last issue of Energy and Buildings are probably of interest to building simulationists and automationists. Comparison between detailed model simulation and artificial neural network for forecasting building energy consumption, by Alberto Hernandez Neto and Flávio Augusto Sanzovo Fiorelli. There are several ways to attempt to model a building and its […]
After a two-month hiatus, we resumed our monthly meetings at LESO-PB to discuss recent developments in building automation and simulation. Frédéric Haldi, David Daum and yours truly attended. We had a smaller group this time, but that turned out to be a good opportunity for going into more detail about some of the research that’s […]
Lighting Research and Technology vol 40 nr 3 has a couple of articles that sound interesting for anyone involved in visual comfort. Proportions of direct and indirect indoor lighting — The effect on health, well-being and cognitive performance of office workers, by KI Fostervold and J. Nersveen. Indirect lighting has been recommended as a way […]
One article in the last issue of Energy and Buildings is of particular relevance to the field of home automation, particularly where daylight control is involved: Simplified correlations of global, direct and diffuse luminous efficacy on horizontal and vertical surfaces, by A. De Rosaa, V. Ferraroa, D. Kaliakatsosa and V. Marinelli. A simple calculation method […]