Getting Started with Ekotrope CODE

Welcome to Ekotrope CODE, our Total UA Calculator for the IECC compliance path. This guide covers how to open it, enter your project information and envelope components, read your results, explore tradeoffs, and download a PDF report.

1. Introduction: What is Total UA?

The Total UA compliance path is one way to show a home meets the energy code. Instead of meeting prescriptive R-value or U-factor requirements component by component, the Total UA path lets you trade off across the building envelope. A better window here, a thicker wall there. The home complies as long as the total building thermal envelope UA stays at or below the prescriptive Reference UA.

Ekotrope CODE does this math in real time and tells you whether the home passes.

For the building science behind UA (what U-factor and area mean, how component UA values are calculated, and what each IECC version requires), see the companion article: Understanding UA Compliance.

2. Accessing Ekotrope CODE

Ekotrope CODE opens automatically when you open a project. Your UA_RATING role takes you straight there from the project list, so you don’t need to navigate through the design editor.

1. Log in to Ekotrope at https://app.ekotrope.com/ with the username and initial password we sent you. The first time you log in, click Settings at the top of the page to change your password and pick your preferred display units, then click Save.
2. If you don’t already have a project, click New Project at the bottom of the page and enter the required information to create one.
3. Find the project on your list and click Open.
4. The Ekotrope CODE page opens. To return to your project list, click Close at the bottom.

3. Project information

The top section of the page is titled Project Information. Three fields are required (marked with *): Project Name, Zip Code, and Builder. The rest are optional but worth filling in for clean reports.

4. Adding components

Below the project information is the Building Envelope section, with a separate sub-table for each envelope component. Every project shows all the tables. The count badge next to each section header shows how many rows you’ve added.

What you’ll see at the start

A new project opens with a minimum starter set: one Slab, one Above-Grade Wall, one Window or Glass Door (assigned to that wall), and one Ceiling. Edit the values to match your home, add rows for additional assemblies, or delete the defaults if they don’t apply.

What’s required?

Ekotrope CODE doesn’t require any specific component to be present. The only hard rule is that the total UA has to come out positive, which means at least one component needs a row with a real surface area. In practice:

• Only model components that are part of the building thermal envelope, the boundary between conditioned (heated and cooled) and unconditioned space. For example, the wall between conditioned space and an attached garage is part of the thermal envelope; the wall between the garage and outside is not. Ekotrope CODE counts every component you enter, so don’t add components that lie outside the envelope.
• Add rows to whichever tables apply to your home. A slab-on-grade home has no Foundation Walls. A single-story ranch has no Skylights. Leave tables that don’t apply empty.
• Most homes will have walls, ceilings, and floors at minimum. If all three are empty, the calculation can’t produce a valid result.
• You don’t need a placeholder row for tables you’re skipping.

The component tables

Common tables include:

• Slabs. Slab-on-grade floors.
• Framed Floors. Floors over unconditioned space (vented crawlspaces, garages) and cantilevered floors.
• Foundation Walls. Basement walls and conditioned crawlspace walls.
• Above-Grade Walls. The exterior walls of the conditioned space.
• Ceilings. Flat ceilings, vaulted ceilings, and cathedral roof assemblies.
• Opaque Doors. Solid exterior doors.
• Windows or Glass Doors. Fenestration by type.
• Skylights. Horizontal or sloped roof glazing.

Adding a row

Click + Add [Component] at the bottom of any table. For example, + Add Slab, + Add Framed Floor, or + Add Window or Glass Door. Each row gets an auto-generated ID like S1, FF1, W1, or WN1.

What you fill in depends on the component type. There are four families of inputs: Slabs, Assembly components, Foundation Walls, and Openings.

Slabs

For slab-on-grade rows, enter:

• Area (ft²)
• Perimeter (ft)
• Perimeter Insulation R: R-value of the slab edge insulation
• Perimeter Insulation Depth (ft): how deep the edge insulation extends

Ekotrope CODE looks up the F-factor for you using ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix A. You don’t need to enter a U-factor for slabs.

[SCREENSHOT: The Slabs table showing one example row with Area, Perimeter, Perimeter Insulation R, and Perimeter Insulation Depth.]

Assembly components

For Framed Floors, Above-Grade Walls, and Ceilings, enter:

• Area (ft²)
• Stud Type (dropdown, e.g., 2×4, 2×6)
• Cavity R: insulation between the studs or joists
• Continuous R: sheathing or exterior insulation

The Effective R column shows the resulting R-value after Ekotrope CODE applies the framing factor and combines the cavity and continuous insulation. You don’t enter it directly.

Ceilings have one extra input: a Ceiling Type dropdown (Attic, Vaulted, and so on) before the Area field. Pick the type that matches the ceiling assembly.

Foundation Walls

Foundation Walls have their own input pattern because they straddle the ground line. For each row, enter:

• Perimeter (ft): linear feet of foundation wall.
• Height Above Grade (ft): how much of the wall sits above ground.
• Depth Below Grade (ft): how much sits below ground.
• Insulation Depth (ft): how far down the wall the insulation extends. Allows partial insulation (for example, top half only).
• Continuous R: R-value of the insulation.

The Effective R column is computed. Behind the scenes, Ekotrope CODE divides the wall into thin vertical slices, applies depth-dependent soil R-values to the below-grade portion, and adds your continuous insulation R wherever the insulation reaches. You don’t have to do that math yourself.

Openings

The three opening tables (Windows or Glass Doors, Opaque Doors, Skylights) each have slightly different inputs.

Windows or Glass Doors

• Area (ft²)
• U-Factor: the NFRC-rated whole-window U-factor (frame + glazing combined)
• SHGC: Solar Heat Gain Coefficient. The IECC requires it in cooling-dominated zones, but it isn’t part of the UA math.
• Wall Assignment: dropdown linking the window to an Above-Grade Wall row.

Opaque Doors

• Area (ft²)
• R-Value: opaque doors are entered as R-value (not U-factor) and have no SHGC.
• Wall Assignment: dropdown linking the door to an Above-Grade Wall row.

Skylights

• Area (ft²)
• U-Factor
• SHGC
• Roof Assignment: dropdown linking the skylight to a Ceiling row (since skylights penetrate the roof, not a wall).

Totals update as you type. There’s no Calculate button to press.

5. Understanding results

The Compliance Result panel sits at the top right of the page and updates live as you edit components.

PASS / FAIL

The status badge at the top of the panel shows:

• PASS. Your Rated UA is at or below the Reference UA. The home meets the Total UA path.
• FAIL. Your Rated UA exceeds the Reference UA. Improve at least one assembly (or correct an input) to comply.

Right under the badge you’ll see your Target Energy Code and Climate Zone (for example, “IECC 2024 Prescriptive · Climate Zone 4”), followed by the margin (for example, “11.0% above Reference UA”).

UA Summary

Below the badge, the UA Summary table breaks the result down by component group with three columns:

• RATED. The UA of what you’ve entered.
• REF. The Reference UA: what the home would total if every assembly exactly met the prescriptive U-factor for your climate zone and code.
• DELTA. Rated minus Reference. Negative is good (you’re below the prescriptive value); positive is over.

The rows group some components together for readability:

• Slabs
• Framed Floors
• Foundation Walls
• Walls (Above-Grade Walls)
• Ceilings
• Fenestration (Windows or Glass Doors, Opaque Doors, and Skylights combined)
• Total UA

Use the DELTA column to see at a glance which group is helping or hurting compliance.

Margin

The margin line under the badge tells you how much room you have, expressed as a percentage of Reference UA:

• “9.1% below Reference UA” means you’re passing with about 9% headroom.
• “11.0% above Reference UA” means you’re failing by 11%. Improve the envelope or reduce window/door area.

6. Using the Trade-off Explorer

At the bottom of the page is the Trade-off Explorer. It’s a grid with one column per component type (Slab, Framed Floor, Foundation Wall, Above Grade Wall, Ceiling / Roof, Opaque Door, Glazing, Skylight). Each column lists alternative values for that component, with a delta percentage showing how the home’s margin would change if you applied that alternative.

• Green cells are improvements: your home would move further toward (or further into) below Reference UA.
• Red cells are worsenings: your home would move closer to (or further into) above Reference UA.
• The percentage is the change to the current margin, not the resulting margin itself. So if you’re currently 11% above Reference and you see +22% green on a wall option, applying that wall would put you roughly 11% below Reference (passing).

Common ways to use it:

• You’re failing by a small margin and want to know which single upgrade gets you over the line.
• You’re passing comfortably and want to find the cheapest assembly to relax (for example, going from triple-pane to double-pane windows) while still passing.
• You’re comparing two insulation strategies and want to see the UA effect of each.

7. Saving and reports

Saving

The action buttons sit at the bottom right of the page: Cancel, Save, and Generate Report. Click Save any time to commit your changes. We recommend saving:

• In the middle of large sets of changes, so you don’t lose work if your computer or network has a hiccup.
• At the end of the day, if you’re leaving the page open overnight. Ekotrope deploys updates nightly and may require a refresh in the morning, so saving first protects in-progress edits.
• When the project is done.

Generating a PDF report

Ekotrope CODE generates official UA compliance PDFs for every IECC version from 2006 through 2024. The naming follows your code version: IECC 2024 Prescriptive Compliance for IECC 2024, and IECC YYYY Building UA Compliance for IECC 2006 through 2021.

To generate a report:

1. Save the project.
2. Click Generate Report at the bottom right. The Select Reports dialog opens.
3. In the left panel, pick a report category. Each IECC version has its own category, plus State Amended Codes (for jurisdictions with their own variants, like Pennsylvania) and Miscellaneous.
4. In the right panel, check the report(s) you want. Each IECC version offers a Compliance PDF (the UA compliance report for code submittal) along with a Certificate and Label.
5. Click OK to generate.

The compliance PDF includes the project info, every component you entered, the PASS/FAIL result, the Reference vs. Rated UA breakdown, and the margin. It’s designed to be submitted directly to a code official.

To digitally sign reports, click Sign All Reports. (To set up your digital signature, contact support@ekotrope.com.)

8. FAQs

Need more help?

Background on UA, climate zones, and component calculations: Understanding UA Compliance.

All Ekotrope help articles: https://ekotrope.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/

Email us: support@ekotrope.com