Matthew Dahlhausen is a research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Lab. He develops ComStock, a model of the U.S. commercial building stock models to evaluate energy efficiency and electrification impacts on the grid. He maintains the openstudio-standards ruby gem, bundled with OpenStudio for programmatic energy modeling development. His main interest is improving the software tools for building design, retrofit, and efficiency analysis. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, an M.S. in Architectural Engineering from Penn State University, and a B.S./B.E. in Engineering Science and Environmental Engineering from Dartmouth College.
How long have you been a member of IBPSA-USA?
I joined as a student member. It’s been 8 Years.
Why did you join IBPSA-USA?
I wanted to learn best practices for modeling work and learn what software tools to build for the industry.
What’s your favorite part of being a member of IBPSA-USA?
All the enthusiastic puzzlers for the building science escape room I designed and built for SimBuild 2024.
Can you describe the volunteer work you do with IBPSA-USA?
I participate in the education committee, hosting webinars and developing BEM learning resources. I also served on the conference committee for SimBuild 2024.
How did you get involved with this volunteer work?
I joined a committee; there is always something to do.
To someone who is interested in participating in IBPSA-USA, do you have any words of encouragement?
IBPSA-USA is a great way to network and find meaningful work beyond repetitive code and LEED modeling.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter the field of building performance simulation?
If a new graduate’s interest is motivated by environmental concerns, I encourage them to choose a career that is going to be highly marginally impactful when they reach peak career influence in ~20 - 30 years. That means projecting trends and working on sticky problems that are stagnant or getting worse. My top recommendation is working on plant-based proteins to displace animal agriculture. I discourage people working on renewable energy, because the grid will be mostly decarbonized in 20-30 years. Likewise with buildings work, I think codes and policy will have advanced to a sufficient level for the energy transition. If someone is set on building performance simulation, experience in at least one of commissioning/forensics, mechanical design, architectural design, or software development is helpful.
Fun fact that people probably don’t know about you!
I’m a Giving What We Can member, donating at least 10% of my income to effective charities each year.
