In this talk we describe our newly developed Building Energy Asset Management (BEAM) platform, which integrates building Energy-Plus simulation and asset management practices for the purpose of optimizing building energy consumption and performance. Traditionally, Energy-Plus simulations are used at design stage and/or for ensuring that building energy codes and regulations are met. On the other hand, BEAM uses Energy-Plus building model for Operation and Maintenance (O&M) optimizations over a planning period. It is assumed that a typical building is composed of energy consuming and generation assets, each with its own effective life, reliability, performance degradation, and other time/operation dependent characteristics.  An MLE+ communication channel allows BEAM engine and Energy-Plus simulation model to communicate. BEAM engine calculates and updates reliability and performance characteristics of assets based on the load data it receives from Energy-Plus model. The engine allows the user to run What-If analysis according to the embedded O&M options. It also allows the user to execute runtime simulations and optimizations.  Our preliminary results demonstrate significant savings in energy consumptions and overall O&M costs in real buildings.

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lbnl_12-13-2012_final_copy.pdf