New features released for the BEP Tool

The latest updates to the BUILD_ME Building Energy Performance (BEP) Tool are designed to enhance user experience and provide more comprehensive calculations for energy efficiency. Here is an overview the new features:

1. New landing page: The new landing page now features three new buttons: "Test" to explore the BEP tool without registration, with an option to register and save progress later; "Register" to create a free account to access the BEP tool; and "Login" for registered users to access their accounts and continue working on saved projects or start new ones.
2. Calculation of additional energy needed for dehumidification from air and internal sources: Using inputs from weather data such as relative humidity and ambient air temperature, with a fixed target absolute humidity. The additional cooling demand for dehumidification is calculated considering mechanical ventilation, free ventilation, and infiltration. Additionally, the tool calculates the energy needed for dehumidification from internal sources, based on humidity from people and appliances, using average humidity per hour and the evaporation enthalpy of water at supply air temperature.
3. Calculation of PV and ST production: The tool now accepts inputs such as capacity, azimuth angle, inclination angle, and country adjustment, along with weather data inputs like diffuse radiation, beam, azimuth of the sun, and solar altitude. Similarly, for solar thermal (ST) production, the tool calculates total irradiance based on installed area of the solar collector, azimuth angle, inclination angle, country adjustment, and relevant weather data.
4. Orientation customization: Users can now customize the orientation of the building by selecting an angle between 0° and 89°, where 0° indicates a façade oriented due south.

These new features in the BUILD_ME BEP Tool provide users with enhanced capabilities to test, register, and log in seamlessly, along with more detailed calculations for dehumidification, PV production, ST production, and building orientation, aiming to improve the accuracy and efficiency of energy modelling for sustainable building projects.

For more detailed information, please refer to the user manual section 2.2.2.5.