I guess , there are lots of tools are available for analysis and simulation of energy ... i call it engineering of energy ... ;) ... but i thought that they always charge for this sort of sotwares and tools ... but in my previous solar energy class , our professor introduced us with new software provided by US, Department of Energy aka DOE ... the name is Energy Plus ...

EnergyPlus models heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other energy flows as well as water in buildings. While originally based on the most popular features and capabilities of BLAST and DOE-2, EnergyPlus includes many innovative simulation capabilities such as time steps of less than an hour, modular systems and plant integrated with heat balance-based zone simulation, multizone air flow, thermal comfort, water use, natural ventilation, and photovoltaic systems. It is a stand-alone simulation program but it is not having any GUI , all the I/P and O/P are text based ... but they say GUI will be soon there ... ( i guess , its pretty enough for free , right ?? ) ..

To download it , you must have to register first at DOE site ... and then you can have option to choose for download, they also have this program for Linux and MAC OS ... once you register , they will send an email containing password ... which we are required to provide during installation ...

I say , if you want to try some tool for energy analysis or just want to experiece how things really work when guys design some system , what they really calculate , what are the factors that make efficent system then this software is really good ....

give it a try ...

Save the Planet ...