The Building America Analysis Spreadsheets are companions to the House Simulation Protocols and can assist with many of the calculations and look-up tables found in the report. The spreadsheets provide the set of standard operating conditions—including hourly and monthly profiles for occupancy, lighting, appliances, and miscellaneous electric loads (MELs)—developed by Building America to objectively compare energy use before and after a retrofit, and against a benchmark new construction building. Building America analysts may also find the spreadsheets useful for documenting and comparing building characteristics for the Building America projects (pre-retrofit vs. post-retrofit, or new construction test home vs. Benchmark).

The Building America Analysis Spreadsheets are available in a New Construction and an Existing Homes version, both available below in Microsoft Excel macro-enabled workbook format. Macros must be enabled for the spreadsheets to function properly.

In addition to the Building America Analysis Spreadsheets, the following two spreadsheet tools can be used for more detailed analysis of domestic hot water and duct systems.

Domestic Hot Water Event Schedules

The Domestic Hot Water Event Schedule Generator can be used to generate custom year-long hot water event schedules consistent with realistic probability distributions of start time, duration variability, flow rate variability, clustering, fixture assignment, vacation periods, and seasonality. This paper describes the tool and its development. If multiple randomized schedules are not required and a 6-second time-step is acceptable, the pre-generated Standard DHW Event Schedules (below) may be adequate for your needs.

  • DHW Event Schedule Generator: This file is in an Excel 2010 Macro-Enabled Workbook format. Please save this ZIP file to your computer and then open the workbook. (updated 03/07/2013)

Standard Building America DHW Schedules for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedrooms (all climates):

ASHRAE Standard 152 Spreadsheet

ASHRAE Standard 152 quantifies the delivery efficiency of duct systems, based on factors including location, leakage, and insulation of ductwork. This spreadsheet tool developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and modified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, assists with the calculation of seasonal distribution system efficiency, This calculation is required by the House Simulation Protocols when the simulation tool being used does not permit detailed duct modeling.