Building Simulation Users Group
The Building Simulation Users Group (BSUG) was created in 2009 to help to start a community centered around architecture and engineering-focused building simulation. Three years, later, BSUG secured funding for another three years from the Idaho Power Company, whom also provided funding for the 1st three years. Dubbed "BSUG 2.0" the second cycle of the group made some tweaks to its mission and aspired to provide more value to its members than just a static lecture series. Users groups are in unique positions to generate content that draws upon the diverse expertise of its members and guest lectures. This content has the potential to help support and add value to the established simulation community. The goals of BSUG 2.0 include:
Continue to procure a lecture series from internal speakers, local experts, and regional/national/international experts. Create a website to house newly archived sessions and serve as a gateway of knowledge concerning building simulation. Create a living document that outlines the simulation protocols used by the UI-IDL on projects. Conduct market assessments of the market penetration of building simulation in the local market.
Sponsored by Idaho Power
BSUG 2026
There are six lectures given each year. Lectures are split up to be presented in the first half of the year and the end of the year. Topics include energy modeling software, integrating building performance in the design process, and workflow/methods for an integrated design process. Door prizes are given away each lecture. Prizes focus on energy efficiency or related lecture topics.
Newsletter Sign-Up
Click here to sign up for the BSUG newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest information and lecture topics.
Video Archive
All BSUG session are streamed live and then uploaded to our YouTube channel. To view past lecture please click here.
2026 Schedule
The schedule will be updated as details become available and is subject to change at any time. We are considering the following topics this year: Coming Soon
April 15th 2026 - LEED v5 Deep Dive By Lyndsay Watkins
The LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) framework provides a holistic methodology for green buildings, addressing topics ranging from Materials & Resources to Indoor Environmental Quality and the many facets of sustainability in between. This discussion will provide insight into the primary updates to the LEED rating system in v5 that was released in April as well as the methodology behind these updates. Attendees will gain an understanding of the major updates to the LEED rating system, the impact areas driving these changes, and learn about the new tools and resources that accompany the release of v5. This presentation will dive into specific credit categories such as Energy & Atmosphere, with a focus on energy efficiency strategies, as well as discuss the process of rating system development and the release of new pilot credits.
May 13th 2026 - NREL's ComStock By Eric Ringold
The talk presents the unique challenges in creating a representative model of the national commercial building stock. The end-to-end process of developing the stock-level inputs, generating and running 150,000 building energy models, and processing and evaluating the output data will be explored. It will highlight lessons from the open-source workflow that could be applied to general BEM practice, and give example use cases for stock-level building energy data.
