Archicad 16 and PHPP?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,
I'm playing for the first time with Archicad 16 and I'm looking for the button to export data to the PHPP: where is it?

Thanks!

Enrico

[Miklos Sved]

Enrico wrote:
As far as testing the Beta version, I've never done anything like it so I don't really know what it involves.

Hi Enrico,

Thanks for the comments, they contain a lot of info that are useful for us!
A perfect sustainable design tool would ideally include both humidity simulation and CFD - each cost like USD30K per license. Therefore, unfortunately, these technologies cannot yet be made accessible to our users.

Design local indoor temp calculation is more feasible - if there's a strong demand from the market we can implement it in the future.

We handle the linear thermal bridge around openings with a Psi value (in the basic Energy Evaluation in A16, too). You can assume it manually or generate it with the thermal bridge simulation tool.

Regarding the Beta Test procedure: it's exactly as Barry explains in his comment. There are no obligations on the users' side (aside from the non-disclosure agreement): if you have the time to trial the prototype software GSHQ provides direct consultation and help so you can be the first to get familiar with the new technology. Users we receive a lot of useful feedback from get commercial software licenses for free once the product hits the market.

I hope a lot of you guys from AC-Talk will join the upcoming EcoDesigner Star beta! It's a chance for you to see some of your suggestions get implemented quick-like, as well as a great chance for us to field-test our new code.

Best Regards,

Miklos Sved

[Miklos Sved]

mattb wrote:
OK, I have now had a chance to read all of this thread, lots of info and thoughts. I am pretty gutted that PHPP export has been removed from ED not because it is more /less detailed but because it is one (of the many) recognised standards in UK which means the output can be compared with other peoples, in particular with Building Control and 3rd party certification standards.

EcoDesigner Star will include direct export channels to both PHPP and iSBEM. These channels will be available in the upcoming EcoDesigner Star Public Beta release, so users of former EcoDesigner releases will be able to use them for free, on AC16 models, too.

I have really enjoyed using ED in the last 3 years, there are areas which are too simple but it does do what Miklos says, which is help decide which option / built form is best.

Thanks, Matt! We're always happy to get positive feedback.

I think linking materials to thermal resistance is great and I also support Enricos idea of embodied carbon entry. I have been doing this calc through a schedule exported to Excel then inserting numbers manually.

I personally like the idea of processing embodied carbon/energy data within EcoDesigner Star. Can you advise a good open source database we could look into?

Another tweak I would add is the ability to output the results such as energy demand etc as Autotext to include in text / notes etc.

My main frustration is the lack of sophistication in the M&E description and (as mentioned elsewhere above) lack of ability to finesse the uses (although I hear the repost of learn XML!) and would urge further work in these areas to bring them up to the same standard as the thermal modelling.

EcoDesigner Star will do that.

I don't like the new interface, the single dialogue was pretty efficient and easy to run through and check all the settings before running a calc. I am also having a bit of trouble with the weather files but I suspect thats me being too geeky for the software.

In general, the palette is a more advanced solution than the dialog, because it keeps the plan editable while it's open. I have personally never liked the idea of removing the function buttons from the main panels but it was part of the new design concept and my opinion was over-powered. The EcoDesigner Star palett will be different from the EE palette, so some of the changes will make more sense with that in mind. Systems, for example - will be possible to access directly from the palette.

Integrated thermal bridge modelling would be genius as the current software we use is pretty tricky to use.

EcoDesigner Star has a built-in 2d thermal bridge simulator.

Daylighting calculation would be great too although we don't do very many of those types of calcs so from our point of view this could be quite simplistic.

For proper daylight simulation you either need an analytic ray tracing or a radiosity engine. If there's a strong demand from the market we'll build one into EcoDesigner Star.

From our point of view, probably like Enrico, we have lots of different bits of software / techniques to do these things separately. When I buy AC and pay for Ecodesigner (weather its 'free' or extra) I choose to stop paying for other bits of software that do the same job, the problem is if Ecodesigner does not do that job as well we have lost that money. To go back to PHPP export, we have stopped paying for SAP + SBEM software to buy Ecodesigner, we must be able to translate the results into some form of comparable calculation or we will still have to keep on the existing software and end up doing the calc twice.

The Public Beta release of EcoDesigner Star in October will solve this problem.

Hope that all makes sense!
Cheers
Matt

[Anonymous]

I'll look into material embodied energy databases, but I guess the values will have to be country-specific, pretty much like ED already handles energy cost and CO2 emission.

Daylighting is in general highly appreciated by architects and clients. Also, it is quite straightforward to understand and communicate. At the moment, we export our model to the Velux Daylight visualizer (http://viz.velux.com/), which requires some extra design time and the results it provides are not totally accurate.

As far as CFD, during my master @USydney I used Fluent (IF I remember correctly, no idea which version it was). CFD softwares can be quite complex and expensive, and probably not worth it for the first few versions of the software (util the engine becomes more affordable than 30K$!).

I'd be very happy to be part of the EcoDesigner Star beta testing. We have several residential projects (new constructions and renovations) designed and being built in our warm-humid climate to test.

[Miklos Sved]

Thanks Enrico!

I'll notify you regarding further details of the test, shortly.

Best Regards,

Miklos Sved

[Anonymous]

We use UK based data on Embodied Carbon compiled by Bath University - I have uploaded the cureent version here - https://www.box.com/s/85f7c4d2a6989ad4e1e3

(its too big to attach to this message)

Cheers
Matt

[Anonymous]

As far as I know, the Italian LCA database has been released last February, I am still waiting to receive a copy of it.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone has any update about the development/ release status of EcoDesigner Star?

[Anonymous]

Since AC16 has been released I was wondering if the EcoDesigner tool has been successfully conformed to ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1.

[Anonymous]

As you can read in this discussion, the "basic" version of EcoDesigner (the one that has been included in Archicad 16) is NOT validated according to any international standard.

A more substantial energy tool - EcoDesigner Star - was announced in this discussion to be presented by the end of the year. This software is supposed to be validated according to ASHRAE standard (e.g. energy modeling for LEED certification) and EN 15265. Unfortunately, there have been no updates on the matter since end of August.

[Miklos Sved]

Hi Guys,

I'm happy to let you know that we've finished the EcoDesigner* Public Beta development. This version is validated with to the Envelope tests of ASHRAE140. It has a very unique, architecture-friendly function-set that does a lot of high end, cool stuff.
It will be made available to you on the first week of January 2013, together with the ASHRAE140 test documentation.

Stay tuned for more info coming up soon.

Best Regards,

Miklos Sved

Enrico wrote:
As you can read in this discussion, the "basic" version of EcoDesigner (the one that has been included in Archicad 16) is NOT validated according to any international standard.

A more substantial energy tool - EcoDesigner Star - was announced in this discussion to be presented by the end of the year. This software is supposed to be validated according to ASHRAE standard (e.g. energy modeling for LEED certification) and EN 15265. Unfortunately, there have been no updates on the matter since end of August.