EcoDesigner - general

[Anonymous]

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

[Richard Morrison]

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

Dangerous??? What danger are you referring to?

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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.

[Rakela Raul]

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)

[Erich]

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.

[Karl Ottenstein]

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

[Rakela Raul]

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

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

[Rakela Raul]

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

[Anonymous]

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