Build an EnergyPlus Envelope Thermal Transmittance Upgrade Planner — implementation

## Build
Process commercial building envelope assemblies in EnergyPlus epJSON format. Synthesize high-performance insulation retrofits to minimize heat loss and generate verified input parameters for energy compliance.

## User
Building facade retrofit consultant

## Workflow
1. Ingest baseline EnergyPlus epJSON files containing Construction and Material objects.
2. Calculate baseline thermal transmittance (U-factor) across exterior wall assemblies.
3. Formulate insulation retrofit scenarios and update Material thermal resistance properties.
4. Validate modified epJSON files against the EnergyPlus schema and output retrofit reports.

## Interface
Interactive thermal assembly configuration UI with layer thickness sliders and U-value calculators.

## Data
Use open-source EnergyPlus example files from the EnergyPlus GitHub release package or construct minimal epJSON mock files.
Starter examples below are synthetic. They are not downloaded records.

## Source
[EnergyPlus](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NREL/EnergyPlus/develop/README.md)
Uses EnergyPlus epJSON input schema definitions for Construction, Material:NoMass, and Material objects.

## Tools
semantic-kernel, pydantic, jsonschema.
Semantic Kernel facilitates structured reasoning plugins to validate thermodynamic formulas against schema definitions.
Hosted reasoning model capable of accurate thermodynamic arithmetic and epJSON schema generation.

## 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
- Calculates baseline and retrofit U-values consistent with ISO 6946 thermal resistance sums.
- Emits compliant EnergyPlus epJSON Material and Construction definitions.
- Prevents unphysical insulation thickness assignments exceeding practical wall cavity limits.

## Starter Examples
```json
[
  {
    "input": {
      "assembly_name": "Exterior_Brick_Wall",
      "existing_r_value_m2k_w": 1.25,
      "insulation_type": "Mineral_Wool",
      "added_thickness_m": 0.1,
      "thermal_conductivity_w_mk": 0.035
    },
    "expected_output": {
      "assembly_name": "Exterior_Brick_Wall",
      "added_r_value_m2k_w": 2.857,
      "total_new_r_value_m2k_w": 4.107,
      "new_u_factor_w_m2k": 0.243,
      "epjson_patch": {
        "Material": {
          "Retrofit_Mineral_Wool": {
            "roughness": "MediumRough",
            "thickness": 0.1,
            "conductivity": 0.035,
            "density": 45,
            "specific_heat": 840
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "input": {
      "assembly_name": "Cavity_Wall_ZN2",
      "existing_r_value_m2k_w": 1.1,
      "insulation_type": "Expanded_Polystyrene",
      "added_thickness_m": 0.6,
      "thermal_conductivity_w_mk": 0.038
    },
    "expected_output": {
      "assembly_name": "Cavity_Wall_ZN2",
      "added_r_value_m2k_w": 0,
      "total_new_r_value_m2k_w": 1.1,
      "new_u_factor_w_m2k": 0.909,
      "epjson_patch": null,
      "warning": "Added thickness 0.6m exceeds maximum architectural facade threshold of 0.3m"
    }
  }
]
```

## Safety
Outputs thermal energy simulation model configurations only; does not provide stamped engineering structural calculations.
Use mock external writes. Require human review before any real deployment.