A Graphic Overview of Energy
Scheming
Drawing Mode
Takeoff
Mode
Defining the Project in Energy
Scheming
Calculating Project Energy
Loads
The Energy Performance
Report
Exporting to DOE 2
For the visually oriented reader, the illustration below explains
how Energy Scheming organizes building information.
When you are using Energy Scheming, you are working in one of two
layers or modes: Drawing Mode or Takeoff Mode. To toggle between
these two modes, click on the icons at the top of each palette.
When you are in the Drawing Mode, you are either sketching your
building, or you are modifying drawings in response to the energy
report.
The information (drawings) you create here is essential as it is the
basis for doing measurements and creating specifications when you
switch to the Takeoff Mode.
Important Point! Information in the Draw Mode is not used directly by the computer to carry out the energy analysis calculations.
Note: You can think of the Draw Mode as a transparent
overlay between your brain and the computer's brain, on which you
make the reference drawings.
In the Takeoff mode the user traces over the pixel drawings that
lie in the Drawing layer. The drawings are still visible, but they
are for the designer's reference. The computer uses only the
information that you add when you are in the Takeoff mode to analyze
the building's energy performance.
The information you add takes the form of area measurements, or
material and component selections. All data is associated with either
Plans or Elevations and is further organized into individual element
specifications.
Energy Scheming can start calculating energy performance as soon as you define the project by specifying :
After which you:
- equipment
- occupancy
- operation of shading devices
- solar zones
- thermostat
When Energy Scheming has finished calculating energy performance, you can
In order to calculate the building's loads through the envelope,
Energy Scheming requires three types of information:
For each hour or selected interval, for each of four climate days,
the computer calculates the net energy flow in the building. This is
generalized as :
NET LOAD = TOTAL HEAT GAIN - TOTAL HEAT LOSS
This algorithm defines the data about the building that you are
asked to input. The Default Data Base allows you to add as much or as
little of that information as you wish.
The final energy analysis shows you the consequences of each of these
factors and tells you how much net load remains to be served by
auxiliary systems.
The report tells you the amount of load your building will have
for heating and cooling for up to four representative days in an
analysis year. It calculates the net heat flows for up to 24 hours in
each day and gives you a breakdown by source. It will tell you, for
example, how much of your heat loss is due to windows and how much of
your heat gain is due to equipment.
The energy report is available in two formats: graphic and text.
It consists of graphs and tabular reports on the heat loss/gain
balance for a 24-hour day for each of four seasons. The text format
is available only in the printed Energy Performance Report.
In the graphic report, information can be displayed by total flow,
gain and loss, element groups or element.
Intermediate energy evaluations are shown on the screen at the same
time as the building elements they respond to are drawn.
For example, if a user is experimenting with different window sizes
to accomplish solar heating, the bar graph that evaluates the solar
gain in comparison to a target window area will simultaneously grow
and contract as the user manipulates the area of glass.
The user thereby gets the benefit of feedback on technical questions
without ever leaving the highly visual sketchpad environment. By
seeing evaluations of their work frequently and easily by means of
this self-dialog, users can gradually develop an "intuition" for the
effect of energy considerations on building design.
Speedy Evaluations
The annual energy evaluation is based on a set of default
technical data which allows one to get a "quick and dirty" evaluation
for the general orientation of the building without the user having
to specify anything more specific about the building. The evaluation
is "quick" because the technical algorithms for the program have been
abbreviated to speed up the iterative nature of the design process.
More importantly, developing initial design alternatives is not
overwhelmed by a need for meticulous detail. Calculation algorithms
are simplified, both to speed up the computer's response time and to
minimize the time spent by the user in specifying details of the
design.
Reference: Refer to Chapter 6, "Building Diagnostics and the
Advisor."
This export feature creates a LDL (Loads Description Language)
input file for DOE 2. If you need to do a more detailed energy
analysis of your building during a later design phase you can get a
head start on the process using this feature.
Links To:
Top of page
About ES - Main Page
ES & The Creative
Process
ES Technical Considerations (Hardware & Software)
Energy Scheming Guided
Tour
ES Manual.pdf location