Comparing Component Heating and Cooling Loads

Ekotrope can export heating and cooling loads broken down by component (e.g. walls, windows, etc.).  These loads can be compared against reference home loads to determine why a home is passing / failing a code or standard, or they can be compared against other software tools to determine why results between the tools might differ.

You can access and analyze these loads in Ekotrope by downloading the Plan Diagnostics by clicking this button  from the Project Dashboard.    This spreadsheet will be very difficult to read on its own, but if you copy-paste Ekotrope's Plan Diagnostics into the Data tab of the Diagnostics Sheet Template Excel file below, then the charts and summaries will be available on the 2nd sheet.  

You can do this by opening the diagnostics spreadsheet, selecting all the data (ctrl+a), copying it (ctrl+c), then opening the attached Diagnostics Sheet Template Excel file, clicking the top left cell on the Data sheet, and pasting the data (ctrl+v).  Then switch to the second sheet and choose the appropriate proposed and reference homes from the dropdown.

If you are comparing results between Ekotrope and REM/Rate™:

You can access the same component loads in REM/Rate™ by generating the Component Loads Summary from the Reports section with the correct Building Selection (for HERS, select HERS Reports).

If you identify that certain component loads (in particular, the deltas) are different between Ekotrope and REM/Rate™, then check the inputs for that component (e.g. wall, window, etc.).  If the inputs look correct you can compare how Ekotrope and REM/Rate™ are defining the reference and rated/proposed houses.