whashisface Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Hi All The energos section of the window tool is asking me to input the R-Value of a window. We typically specify the U-value of the window which I believe is the norm in the UK. Is there a way to change the standards that we enter into window objects so that I can enter the U-value and schedule this out in worksheets? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 In the U.S., we also specify the U-factor of a window (U-factor and U-value are interchangeable terms). R-Value is not typically used as a measurement for glazing products. If Energos is asking for the R-Value of a window, that does not seem correct to me. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted January 29, 2016 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted January 29, 2016 I am fairly confident this will be changed because of multiple instances of this feedback, there are many alterations planned for Energos. I will confirm if possible. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted January 29, 2016 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted January 29, 2016 You can manually override it however: \Libraries\Defaults\Energy Analysis\EnergyUnits.xml The Energos can show U-Value or R-Value according to a setting in this file. false if you set this value to true it will use U, if you set it to false it will use R Quote Link to comment
whashisface Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 Thanks Jim. An update for this would be great as I really don't want to go round the whole office changing an xml file! Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted February 5, 2016 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 5, 2016 I am fairly confident it is planned for this toggle to come to the UI, I agree having users poke at XML files is not ideal. Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 You can manually override it however: \Libraries\Defaults\Energy Analysis\EnergyUnits.xml The Energos can show U-Value or R-Value according to a setting in this file. false if you set this value to true it will use U, if you set it to false it will use R Jim- Will modifying this XML file as you describe set Energos to use either U-Values or R-Values, but not both concurrently depending on the assembly in question? Currently in the U.S., we specify Wall Assemblies in terms of R-Values (e.g. R-21 Wall Assembly), whereas windows are specified in U-Values. If we change the XML file to use U-Values, are we now going to have to specify Wall Assemblies in terms of their U-Values? Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted February 5, 2016 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 5, 2016 It is a global setting at the moment yes, so any place you saw U values would be replaced with R values as well as the reverse. Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Thanks JimW for the clarification. Hopefully, that is something that will be corrected soon. As I already stated, in the U.S. we need to be able to use both U- and R-Values together. Additionally this seems like something that should not rely on a 'Check Box' setting on the Window OIP. It should be a global Vectorworks Preference that allows you to set via pull-down the correct preset U- and R-Value settings based on your project location. Quote Link to comment
whashisface Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 I agree with Tim. You already have to enter your project location and the standard you'd like energos to calculate to. These choices could then automatically affect whether it asks you for the R-value or U-value for windows. I've also just checked the Passivhaus Planning Package [phpP] and this doesn't ask for the R-value of a window either. As VWs claims Energos is based upon the Passivhaus calculation I'm a bit confused as to why the R-value is the default. Particularly when it doesn't seem to be a US standard either? Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted February 9, 2016 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 9, 2016 As VWs claims Energos is based upon the Passivhaus calculation I'm a bit confused as to why the R-value is the default. Particularly when it doesn't seem to be a US standard either? No clue, but submitting all of this feedback for consideration. Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 I haven’t tried in Vw2020 yet, but to bump this thread — has the problem reported in this thread (way back in 2016) been addressed? Integrating construction material quantitative reports with Embodied Carbon Calculations will be difficult if we can’t assign the proper respective energy units. Thanks. Quote Link to comment
Matt Overton Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Vectorworks does calculations in field so until in changes you can alway type 1/u-value as R and U are inverse. 1 Quote Link to comment
line-weight Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 Does anyone actually, successfully use Energos for "real"? 1 Quote Link to comment
_James Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 This may be fairly niche, but for anyone in the UK with a service select license the UK distributor is running a webinar on Energos this Friday (13th) at 2.30pm - more details at: https://designsoftwaresolutions.co.uk/learn/vectorworks-service-select-training-events/ @Tamsin Slatter - will things like the above be covered in the webinar? Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 On 3/6/2020 at 1:22 PM, Matt Overton said: Vectorworks does calculations in field so until in changes you can alway type 1/u-value as R and U are inverse. Thank you for the tip. That’s a good workaround until Vw provides a proper fix (as this would require the user / team to remember in which fields they input a calculated 1/U-value). 1 Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Luka Stefanovic Posted March 9, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 9, 2020 Hi All, On 3/5/2020 at 6:17 PM, rDesign said: has the problem reported in this thread (way back in 2016) been addressed? U-Value or R-Value is set as a document unit via File/Document Settings/Units/Energos, with additional option to switch to Imperial, which will display R-Values in sq ft F h/Btu. On 3/7/2020 at 2:15 PM, line-weight said: Does anyone actually, successfully use Energos for "real"? Absolutely, there are a number of companies and individuals using Energos in various workflows - from early stage design evaluation to complex accurate calculations to then be exported to PHPP 6 hours ago, _James said: UK distributor is running a webinar on Energos this Friday (13th) at 2.30pm The webinar will cover a number of different Energos features, this is the description: Energy modeling in the early design phase Climate change and sustainable design is at the forefront of today's conversation. Integrated design tools can help you be more efficient and make quicker decision during the design phases. During the webinar attendees will learn how to assess the energy performance for a building design very early on in an integrated design process using regular evaluations during the design process. This will give the Architects, the power of being able to make informed design decisions and some metrics to back those decisions up regarding sustainable and energy efficient design. Learning Objectives: Discover the benefits of integrating energy performance evaluation into architectural design workflow Explore how building's form factor and shape affects it’s energy performance Learn how various opening shading percentages and different types of shading can guide your design decision based on the expected building performance Evaluate energy performance changes based on building elements boundary conditions and U-values Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Tamsin Slatter Posted March 9, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 9, 2020 Looking forward to it Luka! Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 (edited) @Luka Stefanovic Thanks for the reply. I guess the original thread topic still stands as ideally different building components are typically specified as U-value or R-Value, not as a global setting for all values. As noted, windows are typically specified in terms of their U-value, whereas wall assemblies are typically specified in terms of assembly R-value. We need to be able to specify both. Will this Energos webinar be recorded and made available for viewing by non-UK VSS subscribers? As there are currently no Energos workflow training webinars available on either the U.S. VSS portal or Vw University, having access to this UK-focused one would be much appreciated. Thanks. Edited March 9, 2020 by rDesign 2 Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 On 1/29/2016 at 8:10 AM, PVA - Jim said: I am fairly confident this will be changed because of multiple instances of this feedback, there are many alterations planned for Energos. I will confirm if possible. @Luka Stefanovic here’s a post from Jim W. back in 2016 acknowledging the need to specify in terms of both U- and R-values. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Luka Stefanovic Posted March 9, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 9, 2020 @rDesign I'm not aware of a setting which allows you to display both U-values and R-values simultaneously, but I'm UK based and only ever used U-values really so the option works fine for me. I might be missing a trick here but I will check with our team in the US and report back. As someone in the thread mentioned, the relationship between them is inversely proportional, so if your Units are set to R-values you could have a small window U-value conversion worksheet to display 1/R-value. I understand it's a workaround but I'll let you know if it's possible to do it on an object by object basis. 1 hour ago, rDesign said: As there are currently no Energos workflow training webinars available on either the U.S. VSS portal or Vw University, having access to this UK-focused one would be much appreciated We are doing a webinar for our US customers in May, it will be announced soon. I'll post a link to register in this thread when we have a date. @Luc Lefebvre what's your view on this? 1 Quote Link to comment
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