Ekotrope for Existing Homes

Ekotrope RATER is most popular for new home energy ratings, but it works great for existing homes too!  Our energy simulation engine is robust for all types of residential projects, including energy audits and retrofit projects.

Please note that these guidelines are not relevant for the Mass Save Renovations and Additions Program.  You can find some guidance for that program, including the Upgrade Advisor feature, here.

Here are some guidelines on how we recommend using Ekotrope for existing homes:

1. First, create a new Project in Ekotrope for the home you are working on.  The new project will come pre-populated with one Building Design.
2. Open the Building Design and modify it to match the existing conditions of the home (prior to any upgrades).  We recommend changing the name of the Building Design on the "General Info" tab to something like "Existing Conditions."
3. Once the existing conditions have been modeled, copy the building design using the Copy button under the Building Designs section.
4. Open the copied building design and make the changes that reflect the upgrades that are planned (or finished) for the home.  We recommend changing the name of the Building Design to something like "After Improvements."  As you implement upgrades, if you click "Update" in the Quick Results panel, you will see how much the HERS Index and Energy Bill change.
5. This can be done multiple times if you want to evaluate multiple upgrade scenarios.
6. For reporting, you can use any of the available Ekotrope reports.  Just select the Building Design you want to print reports for prior to clicking "Reports."  We recommend using the Fuel Summary report in the "Miscellaneous" section if you are interested in energy consumption and cost.  There is currently no report that allows you to include both Building Designs, so you will need to print one report for each scenario and compare them manually to the existing conditions scenario.

If you have suggestions for how Ekotrope could be improved to better serve existing homes projects, we would love to hear them!  Please email your suggestions to support@ekotrope.com, with a detailed description of what you are trying to accomplish, what your product improvement suggestion is, and why it would be valuable.  Please include "Existing Homes Suggestion" in the subject of the email.