EnergyPlus EMS Controls

Live Webinars
18 - 25 February

What's Included?

  • 2 Live Webinars (~5 Hours Total)
  • 2 Lecture Slide PDFs (5 Lectures Total)
  • 6 Reference Handout PDFs
  • 5 Hands-On "Homework" Exercises
  • 2 Practice Quizzes
  • 2 Graded Exams
  • Certificate of Completion

This workshop covers the Energy Management System (EMS) capability of EnergyPlus, which allows the implementation of custom control strategies and calculation routines that override standard modeling processes within EnergyPlus. We cover the EnergyPlus Runtime Language (Erl) that is used to describe the custom control programs, how to create EMS components (sensors, actuators, output variables, etc.), and how to debug execution of EMS programs.

Lecture topics include how to create advanced HVAC control sequences, how to override default HVAC operation (flow rate, setpoint temperature, capacity, etc.), how to abort a simulation when operational faults occur, and how to use outputs to generate trend data. 

Previous experience with EnergyPlus is recommended but not required.

If you are interested in also attending the EnergyPlus for Practitioners workshop, we offer a bundle registration option at a discount.
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Workshop Format

All of our workshops are designed for in-person training and are split almost 50/50 between time in lectures and demonstrations vs time in exercises. The training format will use multiple webinar sessions via Zoom, each lasting 2.5-3 hours to cover the lectures and demonstrations. All webinars will be live only -- webinar recordings will NOT be available for re-viewing.

 In between webinar sessions, we will assign hands-on exercises as "homework" to practice the topics covered in webinars. We will provide input files and instructions for these homework exercises, and attendees are welcome to ask as many questions as they like related to all training material.
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Webinar Schedule

Webinar 1 2
Date Tuesday, 18 February Tuesday, 25 February
Time (Mountain, UTC-07:00) 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM 9:30 AM - 12 PM
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Software Requirements

The workshop is most effective if each participant has their own laptop computer to perform the hands-on exercises.
This workshop was designed for Windows users because some features covered are not available for Mac users. Mac users can still complete the workshop, but should have access to a Windows operating system through Boot Camp or a virtual machine to access all features discussed.
Windows users must have Windows 10 operating system or later, and Mac users must have Mac OSX 10.15 operating system or later.
Meet the instructor

Aaron Boranian

Aaron Boranian is the lead instructor at Big Ladder Software. He has been developing our training material and delivering workshops for over 7 years. In that time, he has taught more than 750 students across over 75 workshops on building energy modeling in the US and internationally.
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Testimonials

"A very helpful introduction to EMS programming! Great job Aaron!"
Sagar Rao
Building Performance Consultant
Affiliated Engineers, Inc.
"I wish I had gone to this one years ago (and brought my student) - would have really accelerated our research project!"
Amanda D. Smith
Adjunct Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
University of Utah
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Questions?

Read our FAQs or contact us.
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