topic EcoDesigner - general in Sustainable design

EcoDesigner - general

Anonymous — Thu, 11 May 2023 08:24:58 GMT

Anybody with positive experiences yet?

A simple tool that gives you building carbon emissions and energy balance is a great idea but if not exectured well it is very dangerous in architect's hands.

I wonder what are the the input assumptions and which standards/guides have been used in particular for output data/report. This is just to help me put the EcoDesigner in the context.

Thanks

Ivan

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Richard Morrison — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:17:12 GMT

TRIBU wrote:
if not exectured well it is very dangerous in architect's hands.

Dangerous??? What danger are you referring to?

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:20:42 GMT

Providing totally misleading data to your client or a project team???

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:00:51 GMT

I haven't used the software myself, but my impression is that Ecodesigner is really a helpful guide for the architect to quickly assess the effects of various early design decisions on the overall energy efficiency of the building.

It won't provide totally misleading data to the client or the project team because that is not what you should use it for.

The figures produced only give you an approximation, and shouldn't be used for calculating anything else. That's why it only costs £200, rather than the multiple 1000's of pounds for fully featured software!

Edit - Sorry, I re-read your first post, and I agree that if you put rubbish in you might get rubbish out, but the architect will normally have an idea of the actual materials right at the start, so 'should' be able to give enough info to make the results of the calculations close enough to still be useful. I would have thought that's the whole point of the program!

Have you looked at the videos on the Graphisoft website yet? (See here) They might answer some of your questions.

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Rakela Raul — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:51:33 GMT

A simple tool that gives you building carbon emissions and energy balance is a great idea but if not exectured well it is very dangerous in architect's hands.

in ecodesigner there is something that calculates the space VOLUME
(under model review in ecodesigner), this eco tool uses the AC ZONES tool:::: if the space being calculated
has an open ceiling with a sloping roof, the AC ZONE tool will not include this 'inclined" space/volume below the roof......so the 'building volume' could be incorrect.
(more than possible that i dont know how to use the zone tool in AC but this is one thing in ECO to look at)

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Erich — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:35:17 GMT

Rakela wrote:
in ecodesigner there is something that calculates the space VOLUME
(under model review in ecodesigner), this eco tool uses the AC ZONES tool:::: if the space being calculated
has an open ceiling with a sloping roof, the AC ZONE tool will not include this 'inclined" space/volume below the roof......so the 'building volume' could be incorrect.
(more than possible that i dont know how to use the zone tool in AC but this is one thing in ECO to look at)

Are you sure about this? I haven't used EcoDesigner personally but I didn't see any zones in the demo I saw. Even if true you can trim the zones to your roof plane. I think that would solve the area issue.

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Karl Ottenstein — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:53:33 GMT

Sorry for the brevity - am traveling...

No, ED does not use zones. It determines volume by examining walls, slabs and roofs...

There is a very long thread already that discusses ED's accuracy and more... it would perhaps be better to read the info there and continue in that thread.

Cheers,
Karl

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Rakela Raul — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:23:47 GMT

it would perhaps be better to read the info there and continue in that thread.

Thanks Karl !! and Erich !! im going there now.

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Rakela Raul — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:11:48 GMT

im attaching a quick rectangular / monoroof model....AND this is the first time i playd with ecodesigner and 100% positive im doing something incorrect !!
the black volume is a zone created by ecodesigner and i think used to calculate the 'building' volume. In reality the volume calculated is missing the triangular area above it...so its first output / calculation is incorrect.

I can re-enter the real volume calculated 'by hand' and i dont know if the internal eco calcs take into consideration my entered volume or still using the volume created by its zone (the black stuff)...if this volume is taken into consideration for any calcs in th efirst place...or relevant @ all.

again, im learning this thing and this calld my attention

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:55:21 GMT

Have spent a few hours with a relatively simple house.
The structure of the program looks promising but:
Can't seem to make the R value of the wall be what it is in the real world.
Instructions say I can limit the area of evaluation with the marquee--doesn't seem to work.
We need much more information about how to manipulate the model to get correct output.

I'm afraid, as usual, we are being used as beta sites

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Fabrizio Diodati — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:56:37 GMT

Raul,

I'm also an ECO Designer dummy but, from what I saw, the 'building' volume is limited by project story settings (I mean the calculated volume stops to the last story "range").
Just try to modify the story height... it worked for me.

Friendly
Fabrizio

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:09:00 GMT

Karl wrote:
There is a very long thread already that discusses ED's accuracy and more... it would perhaps be better to read the info there and continue in that thread.

Cheers,
Karl

karl,

do you mind posting a link to the discussion please?

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Rakela Raul — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:44:45 GMT

Raul,

I'm also an ECO Designer dummy but, from what I saw, the 'building' volume is limited by project story settings (I mean the calculated volume stops to the last story "range").
Just try to modify the story height... it worked for me.

Friendly
Fabrizio

THANK YOU FABRIZIO !!

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Karl Ottenstein — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:22:27 GMT

TRIBU wrote:
do you mind posting a link to the discussion please?

Just did a search (text link above) on the word "ecodesigner" and asking for results by topic:

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=28266

Cheers,
Karl

Re: EcoDesigner - general

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:11:51 GMT

Thanks Karl,
I have found it already myself and read the whole discussion to date.
Also I second your suggestion to move this discussion over there.