ArchiCAD Summer School 2009 : Richard Swann : HEATA

Richard Swann's Tutorial: HEATA- Home Energy Analysis Tools for ArchiCAD 11/12

With UK Architects and House designers in mind, HEATA is due for release in September to coincide with ACSS 2009 . It extends the capabilities of the standard ArchiCAD toolset to display and monitor energy usage for individual houses and multiple dwellings. HEATA tools are contained within the familiar ArchiCAD labels and zone stamp tools.

INTRODUCTION : What is HEATA?

• HEATA allows users to easily explore the impact of design decisions through a graphic display of thermal performance, heating requirements and daylight levels in each zone. The overall dwelling performance, including annual CO2 emissions and fuel costs, as well as predicted SAP and Code for Sustainable Homes energy ratings, are displayed in a dashboard or by listing chosen details from the resultant SAP.

• UK Government energy policy overview, a watershed for planning law.

• Why is energy monitoring important throughout the design process?

• Recent examples from practice: Threshold Co-housing project in Dorset.

• Changes in spatial planning, fenestration and construction materials can be monitored with clear feedback on how elements will perform. Within the SAP Calculator, changes instantly update the SAP and dwelling CO2 emissions rate, making it easy to understand the impact of various energy strategies on code compliance.

• Assessing the viability of renewables and solar.
(Are they value for money?)
HEATA contains solar panel objects giving options for solar thermal evacuated tubes, flat plate collectors, and photovoltaic panels. The contribution of renewable solar technologies to the dwelling’s overall energy performance can be automatically included and assessed in the energy analysis against other measures.

• Using HEATA
(How do the tools work?)
Step by step tutorial on getting started with HEATA from U-Value definitions to multiple SAPs for Apartment Buildings.

See the HEATA Website for more Details

Richard Swann Design
HEATA BIM Solutions, The School, Great Elm
Frome, Somerset BA11 3NY
tel: 07590 602884 email: ric@ecohome.org.uk