Build an EnergyPlus Thermal Envelope Material Specifier — implementation

## Build
Evaluate commercial building envelope materials in EnergyPlus epJSON files. Generate optimized thermal conductivity and insulation thickness values to comply with building energy efficiency targets.

## User
Building envelope retrofit engineer

## Workflow
1. Ingest EnergyPlus epJSON building model containing Material and Construction object groups.
2. Analyze baseline thermal resistance and layer thickness of exterior wall assemblies.
3. Propose insulation layer thickness adjustments and updated thermal conductivity parameters.
4. Generate a revised epJSON Material block ready for simulated thermal performance runs.

## Interface
Side-by-side assembly visualizer showing material layers, thermal resistance calculator, and epJSON export button.

## Data
Use public EnergyPlus sample epJSON models distributed under BSD-3 license in the NREL EnergyPlus repository.
Starter examples below are synthetic. They are not downloaded records.

## Source
[EnergyPlus](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NREL/EnergyPlus/develop/README.md)
Leverages EnergyPlus epJSON input schema conventions for Material and Construction objects described in documentation guides.

## Tools
dspy, pydantic, fastapi.
DSPy compiles robust prompt pipelines to extract and optimize material thermal parameters according to strict schema formats.
Requires an LLM capable of numerical reasoning and JSON formatting, hosted remotely or locally via Ollama.

## Deliverables
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.

## Acceptance
- Parses epJSON Material definitions including thickness, conductivity, density, and specific heat.
- Ensures proposed retrofits decrease overall wall assembly thermal transmittance (U-factor).
- Exports strictly valid epJSON syntax matching EnergyPlus schema definitions.
- Provides human-in-the-loop review for material fire and moisture performance metrics.

## Starter Examples
```json
[
  {
    "input": {
      "material_name": "ExteriorWallInsulation",
      "current_properties": {
        "thickness": 0.05,
        "conductivity": 0.04,
        "density": 30,
        "specific_heat": 1400
      },
      "target_r_value_si": 2.5
    },
    "expected_output": {
      "material_name": "ExteriorWallInsulation",
      "recommended_properties": {
        "thickness": 0.08,
        "conductivity": 0.032,
        "density": 35,
        "specific_heat": 1450
      },
      "achieved_r_value_si": 2.5,
      "epjson_patch": {
        "Material": {
          "ExteriorWallInsulation": {
            "roughness": "MediumRough",
            "thickness": 0.08,
            "conductivity": 0.032,
            "density": 35,
            "specific_heat": 1450
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "input": {
      "material_name": "ExteriorWallInsulation",
      "current_properties": {
        "thickness": -0.02,
        "conductivity": 0
      },
      "target_r_value_si": 2.5
    },
    "expected_output": {
      "material_name": "ExteriorWallInsulation",
      "recommended_properties": null,
      "achieved_r_value_si": 0,
      "epjson_patch": null,
      "error": "Invalid material properties: thickness and conductivity must be positive"
    }
  }
]
```

## Safety
Calculates simulated thermal property adjustments; does not execute physical construction or override professional mechanical designs.
Use mock external writes. Require human review before any real deployment.