Tools
Tools
Buildings
Berkeley Lab contributes to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Multizone Airflow and Contaminant Transport Analysis Software (CONTAM), a whole-building airflow and pollutant transport tool. CONTAM couples a multizone network airflow model to a well-mixed pollutant transport model to predict the transport and fate of airborne materials. It includes deposition, filtration, source terms, and other transport models. The intended audience is a broad range of users, scientists, and regulators.
Link to website for download:
The Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM) produces optimal investment decisions and dispatch for technologies as fuel cells, PV, solar thermal, electric/heat storage, heat pumps, EVs, etc.; and minimizes annual energy costs, CO2 emissions, or multiple objectives of providing services to buildings. The intended audience is Distributed Energy Resources project developers and renewable energy integration researchers.
Link to website for download:
The Full-Fuel Cycle Accounting, Emissions Analysis, and Utility Impact Analysis (NIAplus) model is used to assess the full-fuel cycle national energy savings that may result from standards. Assess the reductions in carbon dioxide and other emissions, including their monetized benefits. Assess impacts on utilities, electricity generation, and capacity.
Link to website for download:
Click on the link below and then select a product of interest. Then click on the link for "Technical Support Document" and refer to Chapters 13 and 15.
Full-Fuel Cycle Accounting, Emissions Analysis, and Utility Impact Analysis
The National Impacts Analysis (NIA) model is used to assess aggregate impacts at the national level, as measured by the net present value of total consumer economic impacts and the national energy savings, of potential efficiency standards for appliances and commercial equipment.
Link to website for download:
Click on the link below and select a product of interest. Then click on the link for "National Impact Analysis." You can also refer to the link for "Technical Support Document" and go to Chapter 10.
The Life-cycle cost and payback period (LCC-PBP) model calculates, at the consumer level, the savings in operating costs compared to any increase in purchase and installation cost likely to result directly from a given efficiency standard for appliances and commercial equipment.
Link to website for download:
Click on the link below and select a product of interest. Then click on the link for "Life-Cycle Cost Analysis." You can also refer to the link for "Technical Support Document" and go to Chapter 8.
The Product Markups Analysis tool assists in the development of distribution channel markups that relate the manufacturer production cost (MPC) to the cost to the consumer.
Link to website for download:
Click on the link below and select a product of interest. Then click on the link for "Technical Support Document." You can also refer to Chapter 6 or the link for "Life-Cycle Cost Analysis."
The Product Shipments Forecasting tool is a a shipment-forecasting technique for appliances that generates an accounting of the purchase, repair, and replacement of appliances by fuel type and efficiency level, under different regulatory scenarios. Also can include a consumer choice model that uses a logit decision probability function calibrated to historical trends.
Link to website for download:
Click on the link below and select a product of interest. Then click on the link for "Technical Support Document" and refer to Chapter 9. You can also refer to the link for "National Impact Analysis."
The Energy and Water Use Analysis model is used to evaluate the change in performance of a product resulting from higher efficiency in real-world conditions.
Link to website for download:
Click on the link bellow and select a product of interest. Then click on link for "Technical Support Document" and refer to Chapter 7. You can also reference the link for "Life-Cycle Cost Analysis".
International Database of Efficient Appliances (IDEA) automatically compiles data from a wide variety of online sources—including online retailers, manufacturer websites, and government efficiency databases--to create a unified repository of information on efficiency, price, and features for a wide range of energy-consuming products across global markets. Data from IDEA enables researchers and policymakers to gain a complete and up-to-date picture of the status of appliance energy efficiency in various markets.
This tool is not publicly accessible. Please contact Brian Gerke for more information.
The Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER) is an award-winning web application that delivers actionable insights to improve energy, emissions, and financial performance in buildings and portfolios without requiring site visits and complex modeling. The tool identifies immediate, cost-saving operational measures and technology upgrades to reduce energy and emissions while prioritizing facilities for more in-depth audits and analysis.
More Information and Download
The 50001 Ready Navigator is an online application that provides step-by-step guidance for implementing and maintaining an energy management system in conformance with the ISO 50001 Energy Management System Standard. Join the 23,000+ facilities worldwide benefiting from an energy management system!
Cross Sector
The Benchmarking and Energy Saving Tool for the Dairy Industry (BEST-Dairy) is a free tool for benchmarking energy/water savings in various dairy processes.
This BEST-Dairy benchmarking tool (V1.2, 2011) is developed for industrial users to compile data on energy and water usage in their own dairy processing plants, and to compare the efficiency levels with those of best references. It is developed and distributed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
The BEST-Dairy tool allows a user to calculate energy and water use intensity and obtain a benchmarking score(s) for the selected plant, as compared with the best available references that we have identified from literature search nationally and globally. With the best references as the baseline, a higher benchmark score normally means higher savings potential from future efficiency improvement in your plant. The BEST-Dairy is intended to serve as a quick assessment of relative energy and water efficiency, which may also help to identify potential savings opportunities in the plant and processes. Users of the BEST-Dairy are advised that additional information and evaluation of the technologies be needed when considering system upgrades.
This tool is not publicly accessible. Please contact Jing Ke for more information..
The Agricultural Irrigation Demand Response Estimation Tool developed by the DRRC accurately estimates agricultural loads based on weather and availability of surface water. From this, it is possible to determine how much of that load can be shed or shifted as a demand response resource. Two tools are in development: a tool for PG&E personnel to use for evaluating AutoDR technical incentive applications, and a public tool for growers and aggregators to estimate the level of incentives they may be eligible for so that they can decide between available options.
CalTOX is a set of spreadsheet models and spreadsheet data sets to assist in assessing human exposures from continuous releases to multiple environmental media, i.e. air, soil, and water. The modeling components of CalTOX include a multimedia transport and transformation model, multi-pathway exposure scenario models, and add-ins to quantify and evaluate uncertainty and variability. All parameter values used as inputs to CalTOX are distributions, described in terms of mean values and a coefficient of variation, rather than as point estimates or plausible upper values such as most other models employ. This probabilistic approach allows both sensitivity and uncertainty analyses to be directly incorporated into the model operation.
Link to website for download:
Urban Form Rapid Assessment Model (Urban RAM) provides a quick assessment of the magnitude and sources of a city's operational and embodied energy and carbon footprints in order to understand better the drivers of urban energy/emissions growth and areas of possible policy intervention.
Link to website for download:
Industry
The Energy Efficiency Assessment and Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Tool for the Pulp & Paper Industry (EAGER-Pulp & Paper) determines the energy saving potential and cost of the energy efficiency technologies that the user chooses as applicable to their pulp and paper plants.
Link to website for download:
USEtox™ is a model based on scientific consensus for characterizing human and ecotoxicological impacts of chemicals in life cycle impact assessment. The main output includes a database of recommended and interim characterization factors including environmental fate, exposure, and effect parameters for human toxicity and ecotoxicity. LBNL EAEI scientists were part of the USEtox development team.
Link to website for download:
The Conservation Supply Curve (CSC) Modeling methodology is used for capturing engineering and the economic perspectives of industrial sector energy conservation technologies.
This tool is not publicly accessible. Please contact William Morrow for more information.
The Manufacturing Cost Levelization Model is a cost-performance techno-economic model that estimates total large-scale manufacturing costs necessary to produce a given product. It is designed to provide production cost estimates for technology researchers to help guide technology research and development towards an eventual cost-effective product. The model presented here for download is generic and can be tailored to the manufacturing of any product, including the generation of electricity (as a product). This flexibility, however, requires the user to develop the processes and process efficiencies that represents a full-scale manufacturing facility.
This tool is not publicly accessible. Please contact William Morrow for more information.
Power Sector
eProject Builder enables Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) and their contracting agencies to upload and track project-level information; generate basic project reports required by local, state, and/or federal agencies; and benchmark new Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) projects against historical data.
Link to website for download:
The FINancial impacts of Distributed Energy Resources (FINDER) Model is used to quantify the impacts of EE, DR, and/or DG on utility shareholders (reported as earnings and ROE impacts) and utility customers (reported as customer bills and rates). Can also assess the resource costs and benefits of various portfolios of EE, DR, and/or DG.
Link to website for download:
The FINDER Model is available through Department of Energy (DOE)-funded state technical assistance programs. For more information, click here.
The Interruption Cost Estimate (ICE) Calculator tool is designed for electric reliability planners at utilities, government organizations or other entities that are interested in estimating interruption costs and/or the benefits associated with reliability improvements in the United States.