Origins of analysis methods used to design high-performance commercial buildings: Solar energy analysis

This study reviews the origins of the analysis methods used to design high-performance commercial buildings. This study focuses on the origins of the analysis methods used in solar thermal, passive solar, and solar photovoltaic analysis software, developed in the United States and Canada, using a new comprehensive genealogy chart. This historical analysis is important because it gives readers a better understanding of the fundamentals of the analysis methods. The origins of the analysis methods of whole-building energy and daylighting simulation programs were reviewed in other works (Oh and Haberl 2015a, 2015b).