honeybee-energy

What it is and what it does

Honeybee-energy is an extension to the honeybee-core modeling framework that adds energy simulation capabilities to building models. It provides a generic abstraction layer for energy properties—HVAC systems, construction assemblies, occupancy schedules, and loads—that can be translated to multiple simulation engines including EnergyPlus and OpenStudio. The package is designed so that honeybee models can be immediately simulated without external translation steps, though it also supports downstream tools like honeybee-doe2 and honeybee_ph that target other engines.

The package depends on honeybee-core for the base model structure and honeybee-standards for a library of typical building program types and construction sets. It is actively maintained and released as a pure Python wheel with low install friction. The AGPL-3.0 license means any modifications or derivative works must be shared under the same license, which may affect commercial deployments.

Use it for:

• Translate honeybee building models to EnergyPlus format for annual energy consumption and peak load simulation.
• Define and manage HVAC systems, construction assemblies, and occupancy schedules in a simulation-agnostic format.
• Integrate energy simulation workflows into parametric design or optimization loops via the honeybee ecosystem.
• Convert honeybee models to OpenStudio SDK format using the honeybee-openstudio package.
• Provide energy properties that downstream honeybee extensions (doe2, ph) can consume for their own simulation targets.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Honeybee-energy extends honeybee-core with energy simulation properties and workflows, enabling building energy models to be translated to EnergyPlus, OpenStudio, and other simulation engines.

Yes, if you are working within the honeybee ecosystem for building energy modeling. Low install friction, active maintenance, and no known vulnerabilities make it a safe choice. The AGPL-3.0 license requires review if your project is proprietary or closed-source. The package is most useful when paired with EnergyPlus, OpenStudio, or other honeybee extensions; standalone it provides only the modeling abstraction.

Install

honeybee-energy on PyPI

pip install honeybee-energy

uv add honeybee-energy

poetry add honeybee-energy

Installing honeybee-energy

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure Python wheel. Actively maintained as of 2026-08-13 with recent release. Two runtime dependencies (honeybee-core, honeybee-standards) are both part of the same ecosystem.

License in practice

Licensed under AGPL-3.0, which requires that derivative works and modifications be shared under the same license. This may constrain commercial or proprietary use; review your project's licensing model before adopting.

Quickstart

pip install -U honeybee-energy

from honeybee_energy.model import Model
from honeybee_energy.programtype import ProgramType

# Create energy properties on honeybee models
model = Model('MyBuilding')
program = ProgramType('Office')

Requires honeybee-core and honeybee-standards as runtime dependencies; EnergyPlus or OpenStudio SDK needed for full simulation workflows (not bundled).

Verify before relying

• Whether Python 2.7 support (listed in classifiers) is actively maintained or deprecated.
• Whether IronPython support (listed in classifiers) is tested and functional.
• Specific version constraints for honeybee-core and honeybee-standards compatibility.

Package facts

Evidence: honeybee_energy-1.123.18-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More Scientific/Engineering packages