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Challenge

Build a Building Peak Cooling Retrofit Demand Evaluator

Compare commercial building envelope glazing and insulation upgrades against peak chiller electrical demand in EnergyPlus models. Formulate envelope retrofit comparisons and recommend chiller downsizing scenarios.

EngineeringHosted by Vera
Challenge brief

What you are building

The core problem, expected build, and operating context for this challenge.

Compare commercial building envelope glazing and insulation upgrades against peak chiller electrical demand in EnergyPlus models. Formulate envelope retrofit comparisons and recommend chiller downsizing scenarios.

Commercial Energy Retrofit Consultant

Ingest baseline EnergyPlus epJSON building envelope properties and design day cooling peak loads.

Model synthetic window glazing U-factor and roof insulation retrofit packages to isolate load reduction impacts.

Calculate avoided peak cooling kW and downsized chiller capacity requirements based on envelope thermal improvements.

Generate structured engineering comparison tables for facility owner review, explicitly avoiding ungrounded financial payback claims.

Streamlit web application featuring retrofit envelope sliders and simulated load curve charts.

Use open-source standard commercial building EnergyPlus epJSON archetypes from NREL repositories modified for ASHRAE Zone 1B. Starter examples below are synthetic. They are not downloaded records.

EnergyPlus Extracts building envelope constructions and peak design cooling loads directly from EnergyPlus epJSON schema objects to isolate peak demand impacts.

langgraph, fastapi, streamlit. LangGraph manages the multi-step evaluation state across envelope modeling, sizing calculations, and engineering synthesis. Hosted or local LLM with high context reasoning for building system parameters and engineering logic.

Submit runnable source, pinned dependencies, setup commands, a working interface, example outputs, and a recorded end-to-end demo. Include tests and an action log.

Parses valid EnergyPlus epJSON Construction and ZoneInfiltration definitions.

Calculates simulated chiller capacity reduction in refrigeration tons (RT) and kW draw based on provided conversion factors.

Compares retrofit capacity limits against peak demand loads without making unsupported simple payback generalizations.

Flags envelope retrofits yielding insufficient peak demand drop for human re-evaluation.

```json [ { "input": { "record_type": "Simplified synthetic app record", "facility_id": "TOWER-AL-NOOR", "baseline_peak_kw": 1850, "baseline_chiller_tons": 600, "u_factor_delta_absolute": 1.8, "kw_reduction_per_u_factor_drop": 200, "tons_reduction_per_avoided_kw": 0.333333 }, "expected_output": { "facility_id": "TOWER-AL-NOOR", "projected_peak_kw": 1490, "avoided_peak_kw": 360, "recommended_chiller_tons": 480, "status": "APPROVED_FOR_ENGINEERING_REVIEW" } }, { "input": { "record_type": "Simplified synthetic app record", "facility_id": "WAREHOUSE-SOUTH", "baseline_peak_kw": 320, "baseline_chiller_tons": 90, "u_factor_delta_absolute": 0.4, "kw_reduction_per_u_factor_drop": 55, "tons_reduction_per_avoided_kw": 0.333333 }, "expected_output": { "facility_id": "WAREHOUSE-SOUTH", "projected_peak_kw": 298, "avoided_peak_kw": 22, "recommended_chiller_tons": 83, "status": "INSUFFICIENT_PEAK_DROP" } } ] ```

HVAC equipment downsizing numbers are simulation estimates; final equipment procurement requires licensed professional mechanical engineering sign-off. Use mock external writes. Require human review before any real deployment.

Rules

Participation guide

HVAC equipment downsizing numbers are simulation estimates; final equipment procurement requires licensed professional mechanical engineering sign-off. Use mock external writes and human review.

Delivery guide

How work is evaluated

Evaluation

Parses valid EnergyPlus epJSON Construction and ZoneInfiltration definitions. Calculates simulated chiller capacity reduction in refrigeration tons (RT) and kW draw based on provided conversion factors. Compares retrofit capacity limits against peak demand loads without making unsupported simple payback generalizations. Flags envelope retrofits yielding insufficient peak demand drop for human re-evaluation.

Submission format

Runnable source, pinned dependencies, setup commands, working interface, example outputs, recorded demo, tests, and action logs.

Datasets

Challenge datasets

Public datasets, plus the private datasets you have access to.

Evaluation rubric

How submissions are scored

These dimensions define what the evaluator checks and which criteria separate a passable run from a strong one.

Dimensions
4 scoring checks
Binary
1 pass or fail dimensions
Ordinal
3 scaled dimensions
Dimension 1

Complete workflow

Ingest baseline EnergyPlus epJSON building envelope properties and design day cooling peak loads. Model synthetic window glazing U-factor and roof insulation retrofit packages to isolate load reduction impacts. Calculate avoided peak cooling kW and downsized chiller capacity requirements based on envelope thermal improvements. Generate structured engineering comparison tables for facility owner review, explicitly avoiding ungrounded financial payback claims.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 2

Correctness and evidence

Parses valid EnergyPlus epJSON Construction and ZoneInfiltration definitions. Calculates simulated chiller capacity reduction in refrigeration tons (RT) and kW draw based on provided conversion factors. Compares retrofit capacity limits against peak demand loads without making unsupported simple payback generalizations. Flags envelope retrofits yielding insufficient peak demand drop for human re-evaluation.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 3

Review interface

Streamlit web application featuring retrofit envelope sliders and simulated load curve charts.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 4

Safe execution

HVAC equipment downsizing numbers are simulation estimates; final equipment procurement requires licensed professional mechanical engineering sign-off.

Binary check

This dimension contributes its full weight only when the submission satisfies the requirement. Partial credit is not awarded.

Learning goals

What you should walk away with

  • Ingest baseline EnergyPlus epJSON building envelope properties and design day cooling peak loads.

  • Model synthetic window glazing U-factor and roof insulation retrofit packages to isolate load reduction impacts.

  • Calculate avoided peak cooling kW and downsized chiller capacity requirements based on envelope thermal improvements.

  • Generate structured engineering comparison tables for facility owner review, explicitly avoiding ungrounded financial payback claims.

Resources and assets

Reference links and supporting material

Dataset notes

Use open-source standard commercial building EnergyPlus epJSON archetypes from NREL repositories modified for ASHRAE Zone 1B. Supplied starter examples are synthetic, not source extracts.

Challenge setup

Configuration summary for this challenge.

Challenge input

Input details are not configured.

LangGraph

Runtime for stateful agent workflows.

Evaluated output

No output checks are configured.

Evaluation checks
  • Ingest baseline EnergyPlus epJSON building envelope properties and design day cooling peak loads. Model syn...
  • Parses valid EnergyPlus epJSON Construction and ZoneInfiltration definitions. Calculates simulated chiller...
  • Streamlit web application featuring retrofit envelope sliders and simulated load curve charts.
Configured evaluation evidence
  • 2 public reference cases
Configured runtime
  • 2 configured tools

Summary shows the first task, up to three tools, and up to three evidence items. Open the technical recipe to view all configured items.

View technical recipe

Configured tools

Action Space
  • LangGraph · Optional
Orchestration
  • LangGraph · Optional

Evaluation contract

  • Complete workflow · Weight 40
  • Correctness and evidence · Weight 30
  • Review interface · Weight 20
  • Safe execution · Weight 10

Reference cases

  • 2 public reference cases

Workflow tasks

No workflow tasks are configured.

Recipe freeze marker

No recipe freeze time is recorded.

Frequently Asked Questions about Build a Building Peak Cooling Retrofit Demand Evaluator