NASA inspires launch of software for energy-efficient buildings

An interesting startup called Ekotrope is marketing web-based software that allows buildings to be analyzed as they are being designed and built.

It allows design options to be compared in minutes, cutting building construction costs 2 to 10 percent and resulting in buildings that are 40 percent more energy efficient. It’s also used for renovations.

It can analyze entire buildings during the design phase, comparing various component configurations to find the most cost-effective ways to reach the greatest energy efficiency. The software provides an interactive report of a building’s energy performance, allowing users to make real-time decisions and conduct what-if scenarios during planning and construction phases.

Designers also can drill down and analyze wall, roof and floor assemblies.

Step 1: Upload your design(s)

Step 2: Compare designs optimizing for construction cost, payback period or energy savings

Step 3: Choose design options that match the project’s goals

So far, Ekotrope has optimized about 700,000 square feet of building space in 11 states across the U.S.

Designers of a net-zero energy community in Florida used the software.

“When embarking on this new development it was crucial for us to fully understand all of the cost, energy and sustainability build options available to us in detail,” says Greg Thomas, managing member for Green Key Village LLC. “For each individual design plan, this meant considering more than 10,000 unique variables. We also want our buyers to be able to choose from 10 different, fully sustainable designs.”

Green Key Village found the software to be “amazingly sophisticated but easy-to-use, enabling us to intuitively review and compare a wide array of build and material options.”

MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Professor Edward Crawley developed the software, drawing on NASA technology, because he was searching for help in designing an energy-efficient home. He wanted his architect to be able to analyze trade-offs in using various components to find the best energy and investment combination.

Recently, the Massachusetts-based company raised $1.7 million, bringing its total capital raise to $3 million. Part of that money came from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The state-funded organization invests in Massachusetts clean energy companies to create local, high quality jobs while supporting them in reaching national markets.

A Fresh Set of Grades Measures Energy Use in Residential Buildings – New York Times

In its waning days, the Bloomberg administration is issuing a final batch of grades, this time to rate the energy use of the city’s largest residential buildings. This week, officials released energy consumption data for large multifamily buildings, allowing residents to find out how their co-ops, condos and rental buildings compare with similar structures.

It was the first time any city in the country publicized such data, environmental groups said, and will be one of the most prominent legacies of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s environmental agenda. The city has been tracking energy use among its largest buildings under a 2009 law intended to help reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, an issue that acquired added urgency after Hurricane Sandy.

The heating and cooling of buildings produces three-fourths of the city’s emissions contributing to global warming and sea level rise, city officials said; the 2009 law applies to the biggest energy consumers, buildings of more than 50,000 square feet and multiple-building properties with a total of more than 100,000 square feet.

Annual results for the city’s large office and government buildings have been released since 2011, using the scores under the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program. Residential buildings are not yet rated under that program, so city officials are using letter grades, just as they do with restaurants, to encourage improvements and to guide consumer decisions.

“The benefit is a more informed marketplace,” said Cliff Majersik, executive director of the Institute for Market Transformation, a nonprofit group in Washington that promotes building energy efficiency and advises the city on its rating efforts.

Mr. Majersik warned, though, that to identify the real underachievers, comparisons should be apples to apples. Walk-ups should be compared with walk-ups and luxury towers should be compared with luxury towers. The most efficient buildings use three to six times less energy than the power hogs, according to a report released by the mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability to accompany the energy use data. This means enormous potential for energy savings, officials said, especially with multifamily buildings, which account for 76 percent of the more than 26,600 buildings covered by the law.

The energy use data, collected in 2011 with 75 percent of the buildings reporting, reveals some interesting patterns. It turns out that buildings built in the 1970s have the highest consumption levels compared with other vintages, especially compared with the structures built in the 1930s.

And in all five boroughs, the highest energy usage per square foot among ZIP codes tends to be in households with higher median incomes.