Licensing

This document describes the framework for private and public sector licensing of EnergyPlus^TM. This licensing framework is intended to encourage the use, improvement and widespread adoption of EnergyPlus.

The EnergyPlus licenses described below are intended to foster and encourage innovation in the private sector. Private developers can obtain EnergyPlus source code and prepare derivatives under the commercial licenses below - any improvements, such as user interfaces or enhanced functionality, will be solely owned by the developer. Private companies have maximum flexibility in determining whether and how to distribute EnergyPlus to their customers.

There are two broad classes of EnergyPlus licenses described below: commercial and non-commercial.

FEE SCHEDULE FOR ENERGYPLUS LICENSES
These are the current license fees for commercial and non-commercial EnergyPlus licenses. All EnergyPlus licenses cover the then-current version of EnergyPlus. Future releases of EnergyPlus may be made available either at no additional charge or for a separate license fee.

Currently, it is planned that bug fixes, maintenance releases, and minor version releases of EnergyPlus will be distributed to existing EnergyPlus licensees at no additional charge on an "if and when available" basis. Future major version releases of EnergyPlus may be made available either at no additional charge or for a separate license fee.

COMMERCIAL USE ENERGYPLUS LICENSES
End User License Agreement	No Charge
Distribution License Agreement	$1,000
Distribution License Agreement with Source Code Addendum	$2,500
NON-COMMERCIAL USE ENERGYPLUS LICENSES
Collaborative Developer's License Agreement	$250
Beta License Agreement	No Charge

This reflects the current pricing for EnergyPlus licenses and the terms under which such licensing will take place. These license fees and terms and conditions are subject to change.

Comparison of licenses and fees.

Commercial Users

If you plan on using, developing an interface for, or distributing copies of EnergyPlus (or a derivative thereof) in your business, you will need to obtain a commercial license. There are two types of commercial licenses:

(1) Royalty-free End User License Agreement — for internal business purposes without distribution rights.
(2) Distribution License Agreement — developing an interface for or distributing copies of EnergyPlus (or a derivative thereof) in your business.

These two commercial licenses are discussed directly below. For non-commercial use of EnergyPlus source code by academic, research, or non-profit institutions, non-commercial EnergyPlus licenses are discussed in the section Non-Commercial Users below.

(1) No-Cost End User License Agreement: The End User License Agreement (EULA) grants you the basic right to use the specified version of EnergyPlus in executable form to serve all of your internal business needs. There is no charge for this license.

• The EULA allows royalty-free, unlimited, non-exclusive use of the EnergyPlus executable within your company at any site by any number of users.
• Your use of EnergyPlus is limited to use of the EnergyPlus executable internally - you may not distribute it to anyone outside your company.

Obtain an EnergyPlus End User License Agreement (PDF 28 KB). Download Acrobat Reader.

(2) Distribution License Agreement: The Distribution License Agreement (DLA) grants you the right to sublicense and distribute EnergyPlus or derivative works of EnergyPlus by any electronic or physical distribution means you choose. Pricing information is below.

Please note that International Weather for Energy Calculations (IWEC) files are only available for distribution upon obtaining a separate license directly from ASHRAE (www.ashrae.org), ASHRAE IWEC files use restrictions.

• The DLA allows an interface developer, for example, to distribute their improved version of EnergyPlus to their customers. You own any interfaces or other improvements to EnergyPlus that you develop.
• The DLA also allows you to incorporate EnergyPlus into a Web application (e.g., use of EnergyPlus as a calculation engine for data supplied by a Web user). The DLA is required to use EnergyPlus with a Web application even though there is no actual distribution of EnergyPlus code.
• The DLA allows you to distribute EnergyPlus in executable form so long as such distribution is pursuant to a sublicense agreement containing certain minimum terms set forth in the DLA. You decide what type of sublicense (i.e., enterprise license, site license, concurrent user or named user licenses, single user license, etc.), how you will charge for sublicenses, or whether you will charge at all. The choice is yours.
• You will need to submit semi-annual reports of the number of copies of EnergyPlus or derivatives thereof that you distributed over the preceding 6 month period. If you incorporate EnergyPlus into a web application, you will need to submit semi-annual reports of the number of unique visitors who used such web application per month over the preceding 6 month period. This information will be treated as confidential information and only disclosed in aggregate with data from other DLA licensees.
• If you need access to EnergyPlus source code, you will need to execute a Source Code Addendum to the Distribution License Agreement.

Source Code Addendum: This Source Code Addendum is an add-on to the basic DLA. The Source Code Addendum gives you the right to use the source code of EnergyPlus internally, thus enabling development of derivative works of EnergyPlus or other projects that require access to source code. You may execute a Source Code Addendum at the same time as executing the Distribution License Agreement or at a later date. Pricing information is below.

• The Source Code Addendum allows unlimited, non-exclusive use of EnergyPlus source code within your company at any site by any number of users. You may not, however, distribute source code of EnergyPlus outside of your company.
• You own any interfaces, derivative works, or other improvements to EnergyPlus that you develop. You retain sole and exclusive control over your improvements (contrast this with the non-commercial Collaborative Developer's License described below).
• You may distribute your modified or improved version of EnergyPlus to others in executable form only. The terms governing such distribution are contained in the DLA.
• If you want to reference the EnergyPlus name (e.g., "Based on EnergyPlus") in any marketing or promotional materials relating to your product, your derivative work must be successfully benchmarked by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory or an agency designated by them.

Obtain an EnergyPlus Distribution License Agreement
Obtain an EnergyPlus Source Code Addendum

Non-Commercial Users

There are two licenses that restrict use of EnergyPlus to non-commercial use:

(1) Collaborative Developer's License Agreement
(2) Beta License Agreement

If you are in an academic, research, or other non-profit institute and you would like access to EnergyPlus source code, you may wish to take advantage of the low cost non-commercial Collaborative Developer's License Agreement. Likewise, if you plan on using EnergyPlus to develop new functionality or enhancements to existing functionality and you wish or intend for these improvements to be considered by the EnergyPlus team for incorporation into a future release of EnergyPlus, you will need to execute the Collaborative Developer's License Agreement which provides the EnergyPlus team with non-exclusive rights to freely use your improvements.

(1) Collaborative Developer's License Agreement: The Collaborative Developer's License Agreement (CDLA) grants you the right to use and create derivative works of the source code of EnergyPlus. This license is a prerequisite if you are developing improvements to EnergyPlus and you want your improvements considered for incorporation into a future version of EnergyPlus.

• The CDLA allows unlimited, non-exclusive use of EnergyPlus in source and executable format solely for use within your company or educational or research institution by any number of users. You may not distribute EnergyPlus outside of your company or institution, nor may you use EnergyPlus to run your commercial business or as the basis for providing fee-based services to others. If you desire to distribute EnergyPlus or use it for your internal business operations, you will need to obtain a commercial license to EnergyPlus (described above).
• The CDLA allows you to create improvements to EnergyPlus. You own any improvements to EnergyPlus that you develop. With respect to improvements other than user interfaces, you grant Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Illinois, and the U.S. Government (including the Dept. of Energy) an unlimited, royalty-free nonexclusive license to use your improvements, change them, and incorporate them into EnergyPlus (in contrast with the Distribution License Agreement Source Code Addendum described above). Based on this, the EnergyPlus team may choose to incorporate some or all of your improvements, or modifications thereof, into a future release of EnergyPlus. Any user interfaces you develop will only be reviewed for test purposes and, except for these limited testing purposes, you retain sole and exclusive control over such interfaces.
• If you want to distribute your modified or improved version of EnergyPlus to others, you may only distribute it in executable form and only after you acquire a Distribution License Agreement (described above).
  NOTE: If you are working for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Illinois, or U.S. Department of Energy under a federally funded Subcontract Agreement with that institution, special considerations apply. Please speak with your contact at that institution to get more information.

Obtain an EnergyPlus Collaborative Developer's License Agreement

(2) Beta License Agreement: Prior to general availability release of a new version of EnergyPlus, EnergyPlus may, from time to time, be made available for beta testing under a Beta License Agreement. The Beta License Agreement grants you the right to use the EnergyPlus beta executable for test and evaluation purposes only until such beta version is superseded by a newer beta version or a production release.

• The Beta License Agreement allows non-exclusive use for test and evaluation purposes only within your company at any site by any number of users.
• Unless you obtain a commercial license (described above), you may not use an EnergyPlus beta to run your commercial business or as the basis for providing fee-based services to others, nor may you distribute the EnergyPlus beta outside of your company or institution.

Currently there are no beta versions of EnergyPlus available for Beta licensing.

Comparison of EnergyPlus License Agreement Types

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