• Click on the Energy Scheming icon to open the
application.
To Begin a New Building
Follow this procedure if you wish to open Energy Scheming for the first time or to begin a new building file.
When Energy Scheming is first opened, the Drawing Palette is disabled.
·Select New from the File Menu.
This action begins the three-screen sequence, "Define Project," which asks you to choose the climate, type, and size of your proposed building.
Note: You can change the default units of new files and the units of the currently open file from I-P (inch-pound) to SI (metric) and vice-versa. This is done in the Preferences box. Refer to Chapter 7 for a description of how to do this.
Screen 1: Select Climate Location
Energy Scheming has four built-in representative climates:
Note: You can also choose "User Defined Climate" which allows you to modify default data or create a new climate data base. Detailed information about this option is located in "How to Generate a Climate Data Base" later in this chapter.
If you are unfamiliar with Energy Scheming, simply choose one of the four climates in the dialog box at the right of the screen.
• Click on OK (or press Return) to finish.
Screen 2: Building Type Selection
The building type you select here will determine much of the data in the default building data base.
Note: For this version of Energy Scheming, all non-residential types will be given the same default values. Appendix B, "Default Building Data," contains information assumed about each type.• Click on the radio button for Residential or Non-Residential.
• Click on OK (or Press Return) to finish.
Screen 3: Building Size
You are given 1200 sf or 420 square meters as default building size.
Type the square footage of your proposed building in the data box at the bottom of the screen or slide the hollow box along the bar.
Reminder: Energy Scheming is for schematic design, so an approximation is all that is needed.
To assist you in estimating the size of your building refer to the icons and square footage for six well-known buildings that are shown on the screen.
If you click on the arrow at the right side of the scroll box, the numbers in the data entry box will increase incrementally .
The maximum allowable area is 100,000,000 sf or 9,290,304 sm.
· Click on OK (or Press Return) to finish.
Important Point: If you make a mistake or wish to change the information you specified about climate, building type or size for a project on which you are working,
·Choose Project from the Define menu.
This brings up the three-screen sequence again and allows you to make changes related to those screens.
If you have plans and elevations of a building already drawn in
another program, simply paste them into the Energy Scheming's
drawing environment from the Clipboard after you have completed the
Define Project sequence. You can copy drawings from MacPaint,
SuperPaint, MacDraw, MacDraft, or any other similar pixel-based or
object-based graphics application.
Warning: Energy Scheming works with a bit depth of 1, meaning that each pixel is either black or white. Therefore, any color or grayscale information in a drawing will be converted to this one bit depth when imported into Energy Scheming. Resolution for graphics is 72 dots per inch, so any higher resolution information will be discarded by Energy Scheming.
It is a good idea to match this bit-depth and resolution when scanning an image or copying from another application to bring into Energy Scheming.
To copy drawings from one application to Energy Scheming:
Important Point: Energy Scheming's drawing screen will scroll down and to the right one-half a screen. Make sure that the full size of the drawings do not exceed this size. It is most convenient if all the drawings for your building fit on one screen.
Warning: Even if the initial program is object-based, the importing process will convert everything to its pixel equivalent.
You can draw your plans and elevations in Energy Scheming's drawing environment.. Chapter 1 explains how to use the tools in the drawing palette.
Begin by drawing a portion of the building for which you know the length, such as the ground to roof-line height. You will use this later as a reference line to establish the scale during takeoff procedures.
Continue to draw the plan(s) and elevations.Reminder: The drawings for your building should fit on one screen.
Once you have plans and elevations in the Energy Scheming application,
- Choose Save (command-S) from the file menu.
- Type in the name of the project.
- • Click on Save (or press Return).
The next time you open Energy Scheming and wish to continue working on this project,
Choose Open Building File (command-O) from the File menu instead of choosing New.
Note: This will also give you access to any other project you have saved as an Energy Scheming file.
This action brings up a dialog box with the names of existing Energy Scheming building files.
•• Double click on the name of the file you wish to open.
Since you have already specified the climate, building type, and size for buildings in existing Energy Scheming files, you will open directly into the Drawing environment, rather than seeing the initial sequence of three screens that come up when you start a new building.
Now that you have completed these preliminary procedures you can proceed into the takeoff procedures or work on other aspects of the building's performance through the Menu commands.
In this mode, you can start measuring the building elements and creating specifications for materials, components, etc.
• Click on the icon behind the T-square at the top of the drawing palette.
When the tape measure icon is visible, you are in the Takeoff mode.
Keeping the Screen Free from Clutter
As you create specifications, there will be many icons visible on the screen. For example, you will measure the same area on a drawing, such as the plan, for several different specifications (floor, and roof specifications, for example). It might become difficult to distinguish one takeoff from another.
Choose Takeoffs... from the View menu to select which takeoffs will be visible on screen.
The list of boxes available will depend upon whether or not the Short Takeoff List is checked in the View Menu.
You will see a dialog box with options for making takeoffs visible or invisible.
Tip: You cannot measure areas of the building until you have a specification window open. Specifications are associated with both plans and elevations. The order in which you create specifications is not important.
To create specifications from plan:
• Click on the Flat File Cabinet icon.
A menu will pop up with two categories of drawings.
Select Plans in the File Cabinet menu.
•• Double click on the New Plan icon.
The Drawing Specification dialog box will appear.
Drawing Specification Dialog Box
Plan Name
Type in the name for this floor plan in the text box. It should be short but distinctive.
