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Allow using simulate.calculate_materials outside BuildME framework #41

Closed kamilakrych closed 8 months ago

kamilakrych commented 2 years ago

This is an improvement I think would be nice to implement, but you don't need to agree 😉

Right now, the BuildME code works for archetypes that are adjusted to its structure, that is, the energy standard and resource efficiency options are implemented. But the nicest functionality of BuildME is the fact that it allows for calculating materials, which you might want to use for all types of idf files, not only the ones available within the framework.

So my suggestion is to allow some way of using the function simulate.calculate_materials for any type of idf file. Currently, it's not possible unless you know the behind-the-scenes of BuildME and know how to code. I've done it before, so it's possible, but the entry level is high.

What do you think Niko?

PS. I did check that it doesn't work right now. One of the reasons is that BuildME has a defined list of materials that it knows how to group into categories. Also, when the mass is not specified in EP, a fallback material excel file needs to be used. All this would need to be fixed if we want it to work for any archetype with minimal effort from the user.

nheeren commented 2 years ago

That is a very nice idea!

However, it should be clearly communicated to the user that an energy model does not necessarily contain all components (interior walls and floors are often omitted) and they could use the surrogate component tools.

Is this something you would like to develop or something we should add to the list of good ideas for later development?

kamilakrych commented 2 years ago

I honestly think it's important if we want to publish BuildME. Not everyone might want to use the whole framework with energy standards and RES. On Friday I had a chat with Sahin and Aishwarya and both would be interested in this simplified version.

I could work on this, but I think it's also a decision up to you and Edgar, because there might be some more important things for me to do first. And I think this one could take a while (especially the part about making it transparent for a user that sees BuildME for the first time).

nheeren commented 2 years ago

I agree, but I also do not see this as a priority. So I would suggest to keep this idea until we know what the BuildME paper will look like.

kamilakrych commented 8 months ago

Functionality added in BuildME 2.0