Training, Support, and Consulting
Below are companies and universities that are licensed OpenStudio training and support organizations. Licensed commercial organizations have been trained directly by the OpenStudio development team and have access to NREL's training material. For information on becoming a licensed training organization please see the RFP summary.
Commercial Organizations
Big Ladder Software - Denver, CO
Contact: Peter Ellis
Big Ladder Software is dedicated to providing software and services for the building energy modeling industry. The company provides training, support, software development, and consulting services for OpenStudio and EnergyPlus to mechanical, architectural, and design engineering firms across the US. With a unique combination of expertise in building science, computer simulation, and programming, Big Ladder has experienced steady growth and achieved significant success and recognition in the industry.
Big Ladder offers in-person public and private (in-house) training workshops for OpenStudio and EnergyPlus. The Big Ladder team has trained scores of new users in the intricacies of energy modeling software in workshops at US and international locations. The company also offers hourly support services by phone and email. Support includes advising on best practices for modeling, helping with writing OpenStudio "measures", helping with the implementation of difficult HVAC systems or controls, debugging stubborn errors, checking models for correctness and quality assurance, and assistance with auxiliary software tools. As part of the EnergyPlus Development Team, Big Ladder provides deep insight into the simulation engine "under the hood" of OpenStudio.
The Energy Simulation Academy - Milwaukee, WI
Contact: Bob Fassbender
The Energy Simulation Academy (TESA) was founded in 2010 with the single goal of creating high quality energy simulations through widely accessible education. The company provides training and consulting services for OpenStudio /EnergyPlus, TRACE 700, and eQUEST. Trainees include architects, engineers, design firms and consultants throughout the world.
Through TESA and Energy-models.com, the company provides online training, both on-demand and via live webinars. The team also provides private and personalized training services remotely and in-house. We specialize in moving straight to the point and speeding up the learning curve through the use of step-by-step tutorials. Additionally, we combine our expertise in multiple energy modeling software packages with our experience troubleshooting thousands of models to offer a large range of consulting services, whether it's creating a model from scratch or evaluating existing models.
Performance Systems Development - Ithaca, NY
Contact: Chris Balbach
Performance Systems Development (PSD) is a 15 year old technology enabled consulting firm that provides training, consulting, software enabled solution design, and implementation support to utilities, efficiency program implementers, energy service professionals, and building portfolio owners. PSD's clients include some of the largest utilities and efficiency program implementers in country. PSD staff have deep subject matter expertise, offer industry leadership and support key efficiency enabling standards in building science, energy simulation, measurement& verification, evaluation and energy efficiency data management. PSD is highly regarded for efficiency industry professional workforce development and delivers third party certification training on a range of topics. PSD's program implementation team supports market transforming efficiency program design and cost effective implementation and are responsible for industry changing program models that leverage market investments and drive investment in building performance.
VILANDCO - Vietnam & South East Asia
Contact: Nguyen Trung Kien
The Viet Land Investment Consulting and Construction Joint-Stock Company (VILANDCO JSC) was established in 2007. The company aims to ensure harmony between humans and the natural environment in any project they undertake. VILANDCO is currently a Gold member of the Vietnam Green Building Council (VGBC). The company's main services are Green Building design & consulting with projects for office buildings, schools, commercial centers, factories, etc. From 2015, VILANDCO has delivered training for DesignBuilder, OpenStudio®, and EnergyPlus™. Trainees include architects, engineers, design firms and consultants in Vietnam and South East Asia countries. The company also provides consulting services in building performance simulation such as energy modeling, daylighting & CFD (wind, natural ventilation, thermal comfort analysis, etc.) to support design firms optimize their design's performance from concept to detailed design stage.
Universities
The City College of New York - New York, NY
Contact: Nicholas Madamopulos
The City College of New York (CCNY), founded in 1847, is a flagship college of The City University of New York (CUNY) system. CCNY is a comprehensive teaching, research, and service institution dedicated to accessibility and excellence in undergraduate and graduate education. CCNY offers a wide range of degrees related to engineering, architecture and science with focus on energy, sustainability and the environment. The Grove School of Engineering is active in Research and Training of graduate and undergraduate students. The Grove School of Engineering and The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture offer a graduate program in "Sustainability in the Urban Environment"?. The program offers an interdisciplinary MS in Sustainability with two concentrations: an Architecture concentration suitable for students with backgrounds in architecture; and an Engineering-Science concentration appropriate for engineering or science majors. The overall aim of the program is to develop a workforce with the knowledge and skills that 21st century workplaces will increasingly demand, i.e., to enable them to be innovative and flexible contributors to sustainability solutions.
As New York City's only public university, CUNY has a special role to play in helping to meet the city's needs. The Building Performance Lab-CUNY, is ideally positioned and equipped to serve as a catalyst for change. Through collaborations with other parties, the BP lab works to accelerate market transformation in the buildings sector. The Lab's multi-track approach also includes stimulating applied research, promoting technology transfer, and conducting outreach to the real estate sector to raise awareness of sustainability goals and how they can be achieved. One focus of our work is greening existing commercial properties by promoting advanced building system technologies and best practices that reduce energy use and improve indoor environmental conditions and waste management practices. Greater tenant satisfaction is one result.A crucial best practice is the monitoring and verification that ensure that, once achieved, optimum building performance is maintained. Another focus of our work is long-term workforce development, which we pursue through curriculum development, internships, and other technology training.
The University of Colorado - Boulder, CO
Contact: Gregor P. Henze, Ph.D., P.E.
Architectural engineering is a long-established engineering degree program in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder: Architectural engineering was established in 1925, awarded its first degree in 1929, and has been continuously accredited since 1936, along with dedicated graduate degree programs. Our CEAE department is ranked 20th overall and 14th among public graduate programs in 141 universities surveyed by U.S. News and World Report. The National Research Council gave the department an overall ranking of 7 in the civil engineering field, and in the top 5% of research doctorate programs in the nation. Moreover, the University of Colorado is ranked 25th among US universities and 34th in the Shanghai ranking of the world's best 500 universities.
The University of Colorado offers BS, MS, and PhD in architectural engineering. While the architectural engineering graduate degrees have only be offered since 2012, the Building Systems Engineering group has been producing MS and PhD graduates through the CEAE department for over 30 years. Graduates from the program work in both the public and private sectors in the broad areas of building energy systems, including academic positions at universities around the world, researchers at national laboratories, and designers and analysis in the building industry.
At the graduate level, the Building System Engineering group seeks to improve the sustainability and effectiveness of buildings. Research areas include the design, modeling, and analysis of integrated building energy systems, renewable energy technologies, sustainable materials for buildings, indoor environmental quality, grid-integration and model predictive control for building energy systems, and innovative HVAC and illumination technologies. The program includes seven faculty members with backgrounds in mechanical engineering, architecture, illumination engineering, sustainable materials, acoustics and renewable energy engineering. We offer three degree specializations align within our research area: Sustainable building design and operation, renewable energy systems for buildings, and illumination engineering.
Training in OpenStudio and EnergyPlus is provided in the context of graduate classes on building energy simulation and sustainable building design.