Performer: Ladybug Tools LLC – Fairfax, VA
Performance Period: August 2019 – August 2021
DOE Funding: $1,000,000
Funding Type: SBIR Phase II 2019
Related Projects: SBIR-2018: CAD‐Integrated Web‐Based Building Performance Simulation Platform, EnergyPlus, OpenStudio, Radiance

Project Overview

Rhinoceros (Rhino) is 3D design tool that is popular among architects, and Grasshopper is a visual scripting and automation framework for Rhino. Ladybug Tools develops Grasshopper plug-ins that support sustainability analysis. Ladybug plug-ins include Ladybug for climate analysis and Honeybee for daylighting analysis.

In a 2018 phase I SBIR project, Ladybug Tools developed Pollination, a Radiance and OpenStudio-based daylighting analysis cloud service that can serve as a back-end to its own front-end plug-ins or third-party applications. In this phase II project, Ladybug Tools is adding EnergyPlus-based energy analysis capabilities to Pollination.

Ladybug Tools serves the architecture market with open-source analysis plugins like Ladybug (eponymous), Honeybee, and Butterfly for design platforms like Rhino/Grasshopper and Revit/Dynamo—these plug-ins currently run locally, on the user’s laptop or desktop limiting the type and scope of analysis possible. In this phase I project, Ladybug Tools will add integrated cloud-based lighting analysis using Radiance. This service will be available via the Ladybug Tools plugins, a web interface, and a web-API for integration with other CAD environments. The service model will also create a revenue stream for Ladybug Tools, which currently has a large user community but no scalable means to generate revenue from them.

The project will leverage OpenStudio’s new elastic cloud capabilities to deliver a greater range of analysis services for architects, while creating a new revenue stream for the company.

Contacts

DOE Technology Manager: Amir Roth
Principal Investigator: Mostapha Roudsari, Ladybug Tools