Green Building Forum - What U-Value software

What U-Value software

10100 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:13:58 +0100

does anyone here use u-value software and if so which one and why.

tia.

What U-Value software

jamesingram — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:18:01 +0100

Build desk http://www.builddesk.co.uk/sw49334.asp
I got it off a link on this site
I use it really just for personal interest, and estimating U values on refurbs

Jim

What U-Value software

agu — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:29:36 +0100

I use the BRE U-value Calculator purely because they kinda wrote the method ( not necessarily right I know) so hopefully they are as acturate as they can be. Also have an NHER calculator which I find easier to use for some reason (probably because I had that 1 first)

Agu

What U-Value software

10100 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:38:05 +0100

cheers :)

i have been using the Builddesk one but was curious about JPA Designer (but it costs!)
i may give the BRE one a look, as said they were the ones whoe wrote the method.

does the NHER one have to be bought?

What U-Value software

agu — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:02:34 +0100

not sure if you can get it separtely from the SAP programme but if you can I would imagine that it has to be brought

What U-Value software

10100 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:03:29 +0100

thanks for you help :)

What U-Value software

Mike George — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:34:20 +0100

I have a reaasonably accurate spreadsheet u-value calculator, though does not allow for thermal bridging so is not strictly compliant with latest Part L revision. Drop me an e-mail and I'll send you a copy.

What U-Value software

skywalker — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:32:06 +0100

And if anyone finds one that works with OS10 there are a whole bunch of us interested.

Mike do you recon your excel one would work on my 1930's construction?

S.

What U-Value software

fostertom — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:39:39 +0100

Whats OS10?

What U-Value software

skywalker — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:46:51 +0100

OSX (10) the current MAC operating system.

Although modern MACs can run windows natively as well as the MAC OS my machines are too old. I could never be bothered with the emulators as I couldn't see the point, other than to remind me how awful windows is and as I went to work to experience viruses, hangs, crashes and software which annoyed me why infect my home system.

S.

What U-Value software

Mike George — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:52:01 +0100

Posted By: skywalkerAnd if anyone finds one that works with OS10 there are a whole bunch of us interested.

Mike do you recon your excel one would work on my 1930's construction?

S.

Yes, it will give you a good approximate value. It does not account for thermal bridging which must now be considered for Part L. In some cases the value of the bridging is ignored anyway! Drop me an e-mail and I'll send it to you [and anyone else who wants it]. Don't know if it works on MAC - you can be the guinea pig.

What U-Value software

skywalker — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:28:28 +0100

Cheers Mike

Excel and Word were first released for the MAC platform before Bill started pedaling his nasty operating system - their MAC OS versions are generally regarded as at the very least equal to their windows versions if not rather better.

S.

What U-Value software

fostertom — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:35:20 +0100

I recently watched a Mac in use for a couple of days while a friend photoshopped for me, and was deeply impressed at the smooth fluidity of it, compared to the grittiness of my PC. That is, presumably, the fluidity of OS10, compared to Windows? Thinking seriously .... Apparently now that Macs use Intel processors, emulation is much less of a problem, and faster - true? So can one run heavy duty Windows software on a Mac, with emulation, on OS10, or does it have to run on Windows for Mac, so you're back to square one?

What U-Value software

skywalker — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:48:04 +0100

You can now run windows on a MAC, just like on your PC, it is not an emulation it is just windows but you have to have a copy of windows to load onto it. So the computer will run both operating systems if there is software/networking you do that is tied to windows (a relative of mine has to use windows based networking software to work form home but switches to the MAC versions of all the normal stuff as soon as practical.

Horrible but true.

Much, much, much more information here.

http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

S.

What U-Value software

stephendv — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 07:50:11 +0100

The two popular emulators that run on OS X are from VMware and Parallels - both are very very fast and you'd have no trouble running heavy duty windows programs. Bear in mind that you'll have to share RAM between your emulated OS and your real OS. You can choose how much RAM to give your virtual machine when you boot it up - I only use it for some software development and office apps, so 750Mb is usually fine. If you're going to be using virtual machines a lot, then 3Gb of RAM on your mac is really the minimum.
The virtual machine performance is really very good, I often run 2 virtual machines at the same time, 1 Windows XP and 1 Ubuntu Linux on top of my normal OS X which is running browsers, email, skype, etc.
The other cool feature of virtual machines is that you can take snapshots of them that save their state - and then you can roll back to those snapshots whenever you like. E.g. install a fresh copy of windows and office and your other favourite apps, then take a snapshot and continue working. When the virtual machine becomes virus infected or plagued by spyware, then just roll back to the snapshot image and start over. It's the only way to work with Windows really :)

...and the virtual machine images or transferable between Mac and PCs. So if you create an ubuntu image under Vmware for OS X, you can boot that image on another pc that has Vmware for windows. And visa versa.

What U-Value software

fostertom — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:15:39 +0100

'Scuse this off-topic but ...

Those emulators, and their fastness - is it different for Intel and PowerPC Macs? Running say Autocad on a Mac with emulation, does that mean you have to instal Windows and run the Autocad through that, or can the Autocad (apparently) run through OS10? If it has to run on Windows, then does anything remain of the Macs delightful smoothness in use?

As I'm PC based at present, the thought is to get a Mac next time and run all my PC-only software on it by emulation, the sole intention being to get that Mac fluidity in use, but if that only works like a slightly handicapped PC/Windows machine, then no point.

What U-Value software

stephendv — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:51:33 +0100

Posted By: fostertom'Scuse this off-topic but ...

Those emulators, and their fastness - is it different for Intel and PowerPC Macs?

Yes, it makes a HUGE difference. To run windows on a PPC Mac you'd have to use a true "emulation" tool that translates the Intel instructions in to PPC instructions - this is painfully slow even for office applications on very fast PPCs.
(I think Microsoft's Virtual PC is the only option for "emulation". Both VMware and Parallels provide "virtualisation" and will only work on intel macs).

Running say Autocad on a Mac with emulation, does that mean you have to instal Windows and run the Autocad through that, or can the Autocad (apparently) run through OS10? If it has to run on Windows, then does anything remain of the Macs delightful smoothness in use?

You still have to install windows and install autocad on windows within the virtual machine, but there is some flexibility in how you view the application you can choose to:
a) view Windows full screen so that it appears as though you're only running windows on the mac
b) view Windows in its own window so that the whole OS appears to be just another Mac app
c) run windows in "Unity" or "Coherence" mode where you don't see Windows anywhere, you just see the Windows applications running on OS X - as if they were OS X apps. But of course the application itself still looks and behaves like a Windows application.

So you won't get any Mac magic within autocad, because it'll still be the same old windows app you're used to - but you can see the beautiful gleam of OS X peaking out behind it

They might have VMware installed at an Apple store if you can get to one - actually trying it out might give you a better feel for how the integration works.

What U-Value software

fostertom — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 13:38:18 +0100

Posted By: stephendvyou won't get any Mac magic within autocad

Didn't know that the Mac magic could extend right into the app - you mean that say Mac Photoshop acts different, within itself, than PC Photoshop?

What U-Value software

skywalker — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:08:38 +0100

Yes

VPC is the only one left.

Photoshop is generally smoother and faster, as are other common applications.

All the menus and commands are very similar if not identical.

As for autocad they was talk of them producing a MAC version a few years back but you could always migrate to Vectorworks which I like a lot.

http://www.nemetschek.net/

S.

What U-Value software

fostertom — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:24:55 +0100

Thanks for the pointers. My colleague uses VW on Mac and unfortunately for my not very demanding 2D purposes it seems hopelessly primitive - so many everyday and advanced tricks it can't do compared to the 2D heavies like Acad and Microstation. So this is a current issue for us. MS started as a Mac app but they abandoned Mac versions 5-10yrs ago.

What U-Value software

bot de paille — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:16:02 +0100

For those that are interested there is an article on Aecbytes which goes over the various sustainable design software tools available for CAD/BIM applications.

The products covered are:

Graphisoft EcoDesigner
Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2010
VE-Gaia from IES
Bentleyâ€™s Tas and Hevacomp
DesignBuilder

http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2009/AIA2009_EnergyApps.html

What U-Value software

bot de paille — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:28:16 +0100

Posted By: fostertomThanks for the pointers. My colleague uses VW on Mac and unfortunately for my not very demanding 2D purposes it seems hopelessly primitive - so many everyday and advanced tricks it can't do compared to the 2D heavies like Acad and Microstation. So this is a current issue for us. MS started as a Mac app but they abandoned Mac versions 5-10yrs ago.

Im in the same position, my collegue uses VW while im using BIM software and its painful to watch the work load as each drawing needs to be individualy updated with any changes. The worst part of it is that he cant seem to print direct to PDF, instead he prints and scans. Im desperatly trying to find a solution to stop the horrific waste of paper!

Being a windows user I too was some what wowed when I saw how a friends mac handled multiple heavy duty graphic applications with apparent ease and silky smoothness! I went out and bought a quad core to try and match and although a lot better it still doesnt seem to compare, must bethe operating system I guess

What U-Value software

PaulD — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:46:19 +0100

Our sap calculator is cross-platform and runs on OSX (I think we are the only Apple developer in this field). we have just included a U-value module and this should be ready for release before Christmas.

Cheers
Paul
www.completepicture.co.uk

What U-Value software

enelisea — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:08:23 +0000

For those of you who still find this discussion in search engines, You may be interested in the following powerful and very easy to use U-value calculator for walls, slabs, roofs. It is an Excel spreadsheet and was developed for Windows and Mac users.

http://www.yourspreadsheets.co.uk/u-value-calculator-to-bs-en-iso-6946.html

What U-Value software

JonnyBadger — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 22:00:38 +0100

Also for truly accurate U-value calculations try easyU Calculator from http://www.oakdenecarpentry.co.uk/easyu.html its an excel spreadsheet that can calculate U-values for building elements with up to 10 bridged or non-bridges layers. There is a free 4 layer version for download.

What U-Value software

Silky — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 15:01:06 +0000

I use u-wert.net, it's a private website ( according to the info ), have found it really useful. It's translated from a German site and not everything is translated, but I think manageable. You can make lots of buildups and then just bookmark them in your browser.

What U-Value software

cjard — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 06:40:20 +0000