MIAMI, June 10 — (PRNewswire) — AIA 2010 National Convention -- Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for the infrastructure that sustains our world, today announced it has appointed Dru Crawley, Ph.D., AIA, FASHRAE, to the newly created position of director, Building Energy Performance Products. Prior to joining Bentley, Dr. Crawley was Commercial Buildings Team Lead at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). He is renowned throughout the "green" building field for leading the development of the U.S. DOE's EnergyPlus simulation engine, which identifies potential energy savings by modeling heating, cooling, ventilating, lighting, water, and other building energy flows. Dr. Crawley has more than 30 years of experience in government research and standards development organizations, and building design, energy consulting, and engineering software companies. He is an expert in the energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainability of buildings. At Bentley, Dr. Crawley will be responsible for developing building energy and sustainability design simulation and analysis tools. In addition, he will oversee the company's comprehensive suite of industry-leading energy performance products, including Hevacomp Simulator V8i, Hevacomp Mechanical Designer V8i, and Bentley Tas Simulator V8i. Dr. Crawley reports to Santanu Das, Bentley vice president, Building, Structural, and Bridge.

"We are thrilled to welcome Dru to Bentley," said Das. "He is the ideal person to advance the state of the art in software used for the complex task of energy simulation. His ability to create robust products and capabilities that provide designers and engineers with highly accurate information for 'green' building design is unmatched. A globally recognized authority in the building energy analysis field, he has already made enormous contributions through his work at the DOE. In particular, his leadership in the development of the EnergyPlus engine has resulted in this technology becoming the standard of the industry."

Added Noah Eckhouse, Bentley vice president, Building Performance Group, "Dru's insight and in-depth knowledge will now help create important new benefits for users of Bentley's proven Energy Performance Series as they design, construct, and operate better-performing, more sustainable buildings."

Commenting on his new position, Dr. Crawley said, "I look forward to working with my new colleagues at Bentley in taking the Energy Performance Series to greater levels of capability. Bentley's user interface to the EnergyPlus engine is already the best available, but I'm confident we can continue to drive innovations that will make it even easier for engineers, architects, and energy assessors to accurately design and reliably predict building energy consumption, CO2 emissions, operating costs, and occupant comfort. It's an opportunity the Bentley team is uniquely equipped with industry insight and experience to handle."

Formerly, Dr. Crawley led the U.S. DOE's Commercial Building Initiative, which was created to achieve cost-effective net-zero energy commercial buildings by 2025 and includes the Commercial Building Energy Alliances and Commercial Building Partnerships. He was also responsible for managing its building energy software tools research and development activities, including -- in addition to EnergyPlus -- OpenStudio plug-in for Google SketchUp, Energy-10, and DOE-2.

Dr. Crawley earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. His doctoral thesis focused on building simulation as a policy tool, looking at the potential impact of climate change on the built environment. A registered architect, he is an active member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA), and the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Dr. Crawley has published more than 100 papers and articles, and has made more than 250 presentations on building energy efficiency, sustainability, and renewable energy topics.

For additional information about Bentley's software for building energy design, analysis, and simulation, visit www.bentley.com/green.

About Bentley Systems, Incorporated

Bentley is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. Founded in 1984, Bentley has nearly 3,000 colleagues in more than 45 countries, $500 million in annual revenues, and, since 1999, has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions.

For additional information about Bentley, visit www.bentley.com. To view Bentley's May 2010 Annual Report, visit www.bentley.com/annualreport. To subscribe to an RSS feed of Bentley press releases and news alerts, visit www.bentley.com/rss/news. To view a searchable collection of innovative infrastructure projects from the annual Be Inspired Awards, visit www.bentley.com/yearininfrastructure. For information about Be Communities, a professional networking site that enables members of the infrastructure community to connect, communicate, and learn from each other, visit http://communities.bentley.com.

Bentley, the "B" Bentley logo, Be, and Hevacomp are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Bentley Systems, Incorporated