EnergyGauge to Ekotrope Importer

Overview:

Ekotrope is excited to release our EnergyGauge file importer. This tool allows you to upload Energy Gauge .ENB file(s) to create a corresponding project(s) in Ekotrope.

Prerequisite

The Ekotrope team will need to enable your organization to have access to the importer. Please contact support@ekotrope.com to request access if you don’t already see the option to import EnergyGauge files as described below.

Step 1:

Either locate the .ENB files in your computer’s file library or export .ENB Files from EnergyGauge that you wish to import into Ekotrope.

Step 2:

Go to your Ekotrope My Project’s page and click on the “Import from Other Software” button at the bottom. You can import up to 50 .ENB files at a time.

Step 3:

Select the .ENB files you would like to import into Ekotrope. You can also choose whether or not new Component and Utility Library entries are imported in your Ekotrope account.

Step 4:

Review and ensure the project was imported correctly and proceed with your work.

Common Converter discrepancies:

Every Energy Modeling software has different levels of details and assumptions. As a result, converting files is not a perfect process. Please see below for a list of areas that may not translate perfectly from EnergyGauge to Ekotrope

• Distribution system airflow rate

  • Discrepancies will be limited if projects are imported into Ekotrope version 4.2 or greater. In your Ekotrope settings, you can set your App Preferences to version 4.2.1 which will help eliminate this conversion issue.

• Calculated U-values for the walls/ceilings/framed floors

  • The component’s assembly details are not saved in the .ENB file, so Ekotrope uses the overall component U-value.

• Surface color of the roof or wall

  • EnergyGauge and Ekotrope use different solar absorption values for surface color. As a result, this can be lost in translation.

• Solar absorptance of walls adjacent to unconditioned space

  • This value is not generated in EnergyGauge. As a result, Ekotrope applies the same value translated from exterior walls to these walls.

• Zip Code

  • Weather station is required in EnergyGauge, but not Zip Code. Ekotrope attempts to back the Zip Code out based on the weather station, but translation issues may occur.

Other Best Practices:

• The converter is built for EnergyGauge versions before version 8.0.0. Any Energy Gauge file converted using version 8.0.0 or later will not work at this time.