Design with Energy
Energy Scheming deals with broad architectural concerns rather than narrow energy issues. Typically, designers design first and then think about energy. This application allows you to consider energy as soon as you start thinking about the building, when you are making your initial sketches that define the organization, massing and orientation of a building. These considerations are extremely important because early form, organizational and operational decisions determine a building's loads and the extent to which mechanical and electrical systems may be optimized. Early consideration of energy in design sets the stage for energy to be considered throughout the project.
The Gap
Most software for designers, whether analytical or presentational in purpose, requires as input a building which has already been designed, or at least developed to the point that it can be reduced to a set of clearly understood numbers or lines. This widens the gap between technical considerations and the creative process because it requires users to change from a designing mode to an evaluating mode. Energy Scheming allows integration between right-brain and left-brain modes of thinking because it takes over tedious calculations and sets out a methodical process within which the designer can continue to work intuitively with evaluative information.
If designers are able to sketch ideas in ways that encourage experimentation and imagination and that also lead, without cognitive interruption, to technical evaluation, then they can consider "technical" questions along with compositional issues, instead of separate from them.
Schematic Design Phase
Energy Scheming's user interface is designed to fit with the mental processes, information structures and graphic methods a designer uses at the beginning of the design process in the schematic design stage. Schematic design proceeds very rapidly, involving experimentation with many ideas and combinations of ideas. In this first phase, designers work primarily in a synthesis mode, not in an analysis mode. They consider broad and conceptual issues, rather than detailed and specific ones. It follows that information presented at this stage should be quick and easy to use. It should also be presented in a way that is generative of architectural form and that helps the designer understand how the forms suggested by energy concerns fit with the forms suggested by other architectural issues, such as composition or structure.
Drawing as a Means of Design Investigation
Energy Scheming is centered around drawing as the primary means of design investigation. Its non-hierarchical organization allows the user to concentrate on any aspect of the architectural problem in any order. The act of drawing is the means, not the end, of architectural design investigation it is a "conversation" between the designer and the paper. An architect does not imagine a completely thought-out design and then draw it up, but rather proposes an idea graphically, gradually using the evolving graphic image to stimulate the brain to reorganize connections and make associations not consciously included in the original idea. The designer then builds on ideas by reiteratively drawing and inspecting the image. This "discovery by drawing" is fundamental to creative design thinking.
Graphic Rather than Numeric Input Procedures
Conventional energy software requires the user to type in numbers in order to describe a building. Energy Scheming supports the graphic method of design thinking by allowing you to define the building's geometry graphically. For example, once you develop a building to a rudimentary stage, you then create building "specifications" using a digital tape measure. This graphic takeoff procedure operates within an object-oriented drawing environment.
A Schematic Energy Performance Evaluation
You communicate with Energy Scheming about architectural elements, rather than just energy-related elements. Thus you can get an energy evaluation of a proposed design even if it is rudimentary without putting in prematurely detailed or numeric descriptions of those building parts which are normally described qualitatively at early design stages.
Also, you are not required to specify details about the building, such as the emissivity of materials, that do not influence building form.
Note: Because of this imprecision in details, we are careful not to imply more significance than is warranted by our schematic-level energy evaluation.
Default Data
Energy Scheming can provide you with an energy evaluation of your building quickly because it makes "assumptions" about the building based on four sets of default data:
You can provide all of this information or only portions of it, which allows you to rely on defaults for some information, such as climate, but carefully define other elements, such as windows.
For the visually oriented reader, the illustration below explains how Energy Scheming organizes building information.
A Graphic Overview of Energy Scheming
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.
Drawing Mode 
Takeoff MOde
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:
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.
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.
Energy Scheming uses features that you will find on all Macintosh applications:
The Menu Bar
The horizontal bar at the top of the screen contains menu titles. Each word along the bar represents a category of actions or procedures that the user may select. By dragging the mouse across this menu bar, you can quickly see all of the menu contents.
Experienced users looking at new software do this to see an overview of the character and capabilities of a program. Menu items that appear gray indicate that some action or condition is required before the item will become operative.
Pull-Down Menus
Palette Item Selection
Unlike menu lists, palettes are always visible, so they represent
the most common actions in the program.
Dialog Boxes
These are rectangular boxes that appear temporarily "on top of"
the current screen whenever a particular response or piece of
information is needed from the user.
Lists and Scroll Bars
Long lists of items may be represented in a short box with up and down arrows that allow you to scroll until you find the item you want. Then you can select the item by clicking on it.
Radio Buttons
These are used to choose a single item from a set of mutually
exclusive choices. The selected radio button has a black dot in the
center. Clicking on one item automatically deselects all.
Check Boxes
Unlike radio buttons, check boxes are used for selecting choices that are independent of each other: any or all may be selected. The selected boxes are indicated with an "X."
Data Entry Boxes
Whenever words or numbers are required from the user, a rectangular box is provided for typing .
To edit an existing entry.
Push Buttons
When you click inside a button (a small rectangle with rounded corners), the computer immediately performs the action described by the word or phrase. "OK" is usually the signal to close the dialog box. The heavy border indicates that hitting the Return key on the keyboard will select that response.
The plans, sections and elevations of your building should be organized so that they all fit on one screen and are away from the top and left of the screen so there is a space for the icons.
Starting a New Building File
Drawings you make in Energy Scheming are linked to a building file. In order to begin drawing first you must be in a new building file. Once you have made drawings and saved them in Energy Scheming, you can open it again by choosing Open Building File from the File Menu.
To open a new building file:
Define: climate location,
You are in Energy Scheming's Drawing Environment. Both the Drawing Mode and Takeoff Mode is available from this screen.
The drawing mode behaves much like common Macintosh pixel-based paint programs. In this mode, the user is free to sketch a building and its surround, without regard to defining building elements.
The takeoff mode is similar to object-based programs. Here the user traces over previously drawn or imported pixel drawings to indicate element sizes and defines any or all of the technical specifications for these elements.
To toggle between these two modes:
Read This Before You Begin to Draw a Building!
Drawing Layer: The Drawing Palette
The Set-square and T-square icon at the top of the palette of drawing tools at the left of the screen indicates that you are in the pixel-based drawing environment. In this mode, the user is free to sketch a building and its surroundings.
Take a few moments to experiment with each tool in the palette. Clicking on a tool highlights it and activates it.
Drawing Layer:
The Drawing Palette
Marquee
Box
This tool is a dashed rectangle. With it you can mark off rectangular areas that you wish to move, delete or cut and paste.
To delete the area:
Choose Clear from the Edit Menu.
To move the area:
•· Click on the marqueed area and drag it to a new position using the mouse.
To cut and paste to another part of the drawing:
The marquee tool can also be used in certain other windows, namely
the graphic report and schedules. In these windows you can copy the
screen image for pasting into other applications but you cannot move,
cut, or paste.
Line Tool
To draw a line:
· Click on the line tool.
The cursor becomes a dotted hairline.
· Place the cross hair at the beginning of the line.· Drag in the direction and for the length you wish.
To change the width of the line:
·Click on the check mark in the line width box and drag it to the width you want. Line Widths
There are four line widths for drawing. The check mark at the left indicates the width of the line that will be drawn.
To change line width:
·Click on the width you wish to use.
Eraser
The eraser allows you or get rid of unwanted parts of your drawing.
· Click on the Eraser tool to activate it and· Drag it over the parts of the drawing you wish to erase.
To change the size of the eraser:
· Click on the line width palette.
Pencil Tool
The pencil tool allows you to draw any shape you want.
To use the pencil:
· Click on the pencil tool. The cursor becomes a pencil.
To choose line thickness:
Text Tool
Helvetica 18 and 10 point are the two fonts available for text.
To remove text:
To move text:
Rectangle Tool
This tool allows you to draw rectangular shapes. When you select it, the cursor becomes a cross hair.
The thickness of the borders are determined by clicking on the
line width box. The shaded rectangle allows you to draw a rectangle
with one of four fill patterns found at the bottom of the drawing
palette.
Circle Tool
This tool draws only circles. The circle always draws from the center point. The shaded circle allows you to draw a circle with one of the four fill patterns found at the bottom of the drawing palette.
Circle grows bigger from center
Drag crosshair to increase size of circle
Important Point! Change the fill pattern of the circle by clicking on the pattern in the palette at the left.
Fill Patterns
There are four fill patterns available for shading rectangles and circles. They are activated when you choose either the shaded rectangle or the shaded circle.
· Click on the pattern in the palette to change the rectangle fill pattern.
To delete something from the drawing screen:
Energy Scheming's drawing environment does not allow the user to construct complex shapes, such as curves, easily. It is designed to support schematic design and modifications to a building in response to the energy report.
You may prefer to draw the building in another application and paste it into Energy Scheming through the Clipboard. You may continue to make modifications to the building by reworking it in the original application and re-pasting back into Energy Scheming.
Warning! If you decide to modify the building
using this procedure after you have done takeoffs, remember to
reposition the original takeoffs on the modified building once it has
been re-pasted into Energy Scheming.
Takeoff Mode
You are in the Takeoff mode when the tape measure icon is on top.
The Takeoff Layer:
The Takeoff Palette
To change to the Takeoff mode:
· Click on the tape measure icon behind the T square icon at the top of palette.
Most of the palette tools in takeoff mode are unique to Energy Scheming, although some behave like tools in object-based programs.
Flat File Cabinet
The file cabinet contains two types of "drawers":Plans and Elevations
To start your specification takeoff procedures:
· Click on the cabinet icon.
You will see a popup menu which lists plans and elevations.
· Drag down to Plans or Elevations and release the mouse button to select.
Thumbs-down Tool
This tool allows you to remove takeoffs.
To remove a takeoff:
· Click on the tool.
· Position the tip of the thumb over the takeoff you wish to remove.
· Click.
Measuring Tape Tool for Rectangles
This allows you to takeoff rectangular areas. It works like the rectangle tool in that you drag it from one corner of the area to the opposite corner.
Measuring Tape Tool for Polygons
This tool allows you to takeoff irregular polygonal areas.
If the polygon has only horizontal and vertical sides, the takeoff can be constrained to only horizontal and vertical sides by holding down the shift key.
Duplicate tool
This tool allows you to copy takeoffs. For example, if your building has several windows the same size, use this tool to duplicate the first window takeoff. The duplicates will be identical to the originals in size, pattern and type. The duplicate takeoff will be drawn from the upper left corner of the hollow square when the mouse is clicked.
Note: You must have a specification window open and a takeoff
selected to use this tool.
Arrow Tool
This tool is used to break out of the other procedures. It is also used to select, open and move both takeoffs and icons.
The arrow tool may be used to resize the takeoff areas after they have been created. To make an already created takeoff smaller or larger:
Calculation Button
Energy Scheming will begin calculating when you click on this button. When the button picture cycles from day to night you know calculations are in progress. The border around the button blinks when you have made changes that may affect the results. This is a reminder to recalculate. The button appears in the bottom left corner of your screen.
