Version 6 of the BEST (Building Efficiency System Tool) Software Available for Download

The Hydronic Industry Alliance-Commercial (HIA-C), a committee of the Radiant Professionals Alliance (RPA), has released version 6.0 of its Building Efficiency System Tool (BEST), an interactive commercial building HVAC system efficiency comparison application.

The revised software, available online at no charge, adds the ability to compare projected costs and energy usage for all HVAC systems and hot water consumption in any building based on what is known, and almost all inputs may be adjusted once the design process begins.

The new version includes the following:

• Ability to model multiple heating and cooling sources. This enables modeling of all electric systems using cascaded heat pumps and backup sources.
• Cascaded systems can include:

• • Air-to-water (ATW) heat pumps with water-to-water (WTW) boosters and boiler backup sources.
  • Water-to-air (WTA) heat pumps with ATW heat pumps and boiler backup sources.
  • WTW and WTA heat pumps with hybrid geothermal sources.
  • Air-to-air (ATA) heat pumps with furnace, boiler or resistance backup sources.
  • Multiple types of heating or cooling sources configurable for load splitting.

• Air source heat pumps with ability to model user definable ambient temperatures for cut in of backup sources or cutoff of heat pump.

“BEST is an early modeling tool to sort out options for HVAC systems when very little information is known about the building,” said Greg Cunniff, P.E., director of Applied Solutions for Williams Comfort Products in a media release. “With the trend to all-electric solutions — including cascading heat pump systems — BEST is able to quickly and easily compare these innovative ideas.”

BEST 6.0 is available for download HERE.

HIA-C.org

radiantprofessionalsalliance.org.