Custom Meter in EnergyPlus

I'm trying to create a custom meter in EnergyPlus to report demand by end use. For example I would like to create a meter to report the hourly Lights Electric Power OutputVariable to the *Meter.csv file. I think this is possible, but I'm not completely sure if it is, what the correct syntax is, or if there's another object I need (the documentation is rather sparse). Here's what I've specified in the IDF:

Meter:Custom,
  MeterCustom,             !- Name
  Electricity,             !- Fuel Type
  ,                       !- Key Name 1
  Lights Electric Power;  !- Output Variable or Meter Name 1

Output:Meter:MeterFileOnly,
  METERCUSTOM,             !- Name
  Hourly;                  !- Reporting Frequency

Comments

This thread may help.

David Goldwasser (2015-01-30 14:34:59 -0500) edit

If you are just looking for the annual peak demand, you may want to take a look at the "Energy Meters" table in tabular output file. If you want monthly peak demands, take a look at the 5ZoneEconomicsTariffAndLifeCycleCosts.idf example file and the PEAK ENERGY END-USE - ELECTRICITY PART 1 and 2 reports in the tabular output file. If you want monthly values in the meter file, you can use:

  Output:Meter:MeterFileOnly,Electricity:Facility,monthly;
  Output:Meter:MeterFileOnly,Electricity:Building,monthly;
  Output:Meter:MeterFileOnly,InteriorLights:Electricity,monthly;
  Output:Meter:MeterFileOnly,Electricity:HVAC,monthly;
  Output:Meter:MeterFileOnly,Electricity:Plant,monthly;

etc...

Note that the raw MTR file has the maximum value for each meter but that is not included in the Meter.csv file. If you want them in the normal CSV file you can use the "power" versions of the outputs for individual items like:

Lights Electric Power