NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy 

Efficiency & Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308

Mobile Building Energy Audit 

and Modeling Tools

Cooperative Research and Development 

Final Report

CRADA Number: CRD-11-00441

NREL Technical Contact: Larry J. Brackney

CRADA Report

NREL/TP-7A10-57653

April 2013
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Cooperative Research and Development Final Report

In accordance with Requirements set forth in Article XI.A(3) of the CRADA document, this document is 

the final CRADA report, including a list of Subject Inventions, to be forwarded to the Office of Science 

and Technical Information as part of the commitment to the public to demonstrate results of federally 

funded research.

CRADA Number: CRD-11-00441

CRADA Title: Mobile Building Energy Audit and Modeling Tools

Parties to the Agreement: concept 3D

Joint Work Statement Funding Table showing DOE commitment: 

Estimated Costs NREL Shared Resources

Year 1 $ 53,500.00

Year 2 $ 00.00

Year 3 $ 00.00

TOTALS $ 53,500.00

Abstract of CRADA work: 

Broadly accessible, low cost, accurate, and easy-to-use energy auditing tools remain out of reach for 

managers of the aging U.S. building population (over 80% of U.S. commercial buildings are more than 10 

years old*). concept3D and NREL’s commercial buildings group will work to translate and extend 

NREL’s existing spreadsheet-based energy auditing tool for a browser- friendly and mobile-computing 

platform. NREL will also work with concept3D to further develop a prototype geometry capture and 

materials inference tool operable on a smart phone/pad platform. These tools will be developed to 

interoperate with NREL’s Building Component Library and OpenStudio energy modeling platforms, and 

will be marketed by concept3D to commercial developers, academic institutions and governmental 

agencies. concept3D is NREL’s lead developer and subcontractor of the Building Component Library.

Summary of Research Results: 

This CRADA produced extensions to OpenStudio and the Building Component Library that enable a 

mobile building energy audit tool. NREL specifically focused on defining an audit data schema that 

could be collected by a mobile device, referenced in the Building Component Library, and used by 

OpenStudio to articulate a building energy model. concept3D developed mobile device user interfaces to 

define building geometry and underlying software architecture for a complete mobile auditing solution. 

NREL and concept3D developed more detailed use cases and design documentation for the system. 
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NREL and concept3D collaborated to prepare a joint DoD ESTCP proposal to create and demonstrate an 

integrated energy auditing system. 

Subject Inventions Listing: None

Report Date: 2/15/13 Responsible Technical Contact at Alliance/NREL: Larry J. Brackney

This document contains NO confidential, protectable, or proprietary information.