RELEASE NOTES EG USA 3.0.0 Version 3.0 has a multitude of changes from version 2.8.05. One of the major changes is the ability to break up a home into Blocks with different HVAC systems. This includes the ability to heat part of the home with natural gas and part with electric heat. We also allow users to enter basements by defining each surface, so walk out areas and windows in basements and other features can now be incorporated. We have also incorporated duct regain in spaces, and sealed attic homes with ducts in the sealed attic will now simply indicate the attic as the duct location and should no longer select conditioned space for any attic ductwork. Homes with ducts in basements will typically benefit from the duct regain change. Heat pump water heaters are now modeled with their cooling by product provided to the space where the heat pump water heater is located. Florida code performance method for 2010 has many changes as passed by the Florida Building Commission. We have also incorporated the Total UA and the R Value prescriptive options in the event that, for a particular home, it is more advantageous to use those methods instead of the performance method. MULTI ZONE CAPABILITY Maximum number of Spaces is 29. o A Space page is now provided on the project tab. o A Space can be the entire house, a room, a group of rooms, a story, or any other area. To properly model a home with multiple HVAC systems, the home must be broken up into one or more Blocks served by the same HVAC system. Each Block may contain multiple Spaces contributing loads to that block. o For EnergyGauge Pro users who enter room by room, continue to use Spaces as you have for Manual J calculations. o Any basements should be entered separately from the Space(s) above it. If only part of the basement is conditioned, enter a conditioned basement Space separately from the unconditioned basement Space. Maximum of 5 HVAC systems. The area served by the HVAC system is called a Block. o There is a new Blocks page under the Equipment tab. HVAC systems are now required to be assigned to a Block. Each Space must also be assigned to a Block on the Blocks page. This can be easily accomplished by dragging and dropping Spaces into the proper Block. o A Block must be added for each pair of cooling and heating systems.
o If you have more than five systems, you will need to combine them so there are no more than five (i.e. the number of Blocks is limited to 5). On the cooling, heating, and mechanical ventilation pages, select the block that the cooling or heating system serves The results may be slightly different by breaking up a home due to the heat exchange between blocks. On the floor screen, enter a Floor Type floor over other spaces if you have entered spaces on different levels. You will see the drop down list to enter the name of the space under this floor choose from the list. Interior floors must be included between spaces on different floors. Interior walls separating spaces served by different systems must be included. On the wall screen select Interior for the Adjacent to entry. Then select the name of the space from the drop down Interior Wall list to separate spaces on the same floor. BASEMENT ENTRIES Basements are entered on the Spaces page. To enter a new space, hit the + button. Select a space name from the drop down list or type in your own name for the space. Select whether the space is a basement (Defined for Energy Gauge purposes as a space that has below grade walls with a conditioned space above it), is conditioned (heated and/or cooled), or is finished (has drywall or other such interior surface) by selecting the appropriate check boxes. You can now use the envelope component pages to make other entries for the basement space: o Floor page includes a slab below grade floor type for the basement. Also make sure you enter a second floor and select the Floor Type floor over other spaces for the conditioned Space(s) above the basement. o Select windows on the window page and select your Space name, e.g., Basement1, as the Space name. o Enter any basement doors on the door page. o Only make a ceiling screen entry if part of the ceiling of the basement has an attic or roof directly above it (unusual for the EnergyGauge definition of a basement). o For basements, the Wall Page exterior wall characteristics section includes a percent below grade entry. For most basement walls you will need an entry. Importing older home with basements: o EnergyGauge will try to create a new space for a version 2.xx EnergyGauge file. Check each entry page for the comment Generated on import. Now that you have more control over the basement, you may want to make changes to more accurately model it as well as verify that the import, which has to apply a few assumptions, was what you intended. OTHER CHANGES Utility data prices have been updated. The latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) data (2010 residential prices) are included.
To avoid continual prompts for changes in utility prices when bringing in an existing file, you can now select an action in preferences (Import Options for Utility Costs) to always apply: o Warn me when utility costs change, o Save original data o Use newest data. There is a new roof page entry for the roof surface emittance and a tested check box o The emittance Tested check box should be selected if the emittance values are provided by the roofing manufacturer in accordance with ASTM C 1371. The following pages display a new Insulation grade selection box previously only used in energy ratings. o Floor page for crawlspaces, raised floor, floor over garage, and floor over other space o Roof page (might affect Uvalue showing on the Ceiling Page) o Ceiling page o Wall page o The insulation grade, along with the framing fraction, material type, and R values determine the on screen U value. This input will not affect the performance calculation but will affect the UA Alternative Method as the same procedure is used to calculate the U value. Put your mouse on the new entry and hit F1 to learn the selection choices for insulation grade. o CHANGES AND POSSIBLE AFFECTS TO CONSIDER Import process of legacy ENB file o The following is a description of the process of ENB file import from previous single zone projects. This includes some basic assumptions that have to be made in the software. The project components can be altered by the user to better represent the actual building being modeled. Spaces page: A single living space will be preserved for files created using wholehouse entry. o The new space will be named Main. Each room will be a space for EnergyGauge Pro files that had multiple rooms. o The name originally given will be preserved. Basements will now show up as an additional space. Verify conditioned checkbox is appropriately selected or deselected. Verify finished checkbox is appropriately selected or deselected. Floor Page Basements floors will show up as slab below grade. Other basement entries will now be on other pages For homes with basements, a floor over other space will appear. Roof Page
The roof Emittance will be shown as 0.90 (default) and the Tested checkbox will be unchecked Ceiling Page Walls Page Basement walls will be added for homes imported with basements. No windows or doors will be put in the basement walls. Basement wall height will default to 8 feet. Doors Page Add any doors to exterior that should be in the basement. Windows Page Add any windows that should be in the basement. IF you entered these as part of the main house before, you can just switch the Space form Main to Bsmt 1 Infiltration Page Mechanical ventilation has been removed from the Infiltration page and has a new tab under the Equipment tab. Block and Cooling and Heating Pages Homes imported with only one cooling and one heating system will be assigned to one Block and all spaces will be part of that Block. Homes imported with multiple HVAC systems will have one Block created that has all spaces assigned to it. In the past, EnergyGauge combined systems to serve the whole house model. Now EnergyGauge models each Block and requires that each Block have a single system. This will mean work on your part. We suggest saving your file after each step of this process. o You will need to create at least one Space for each separate system. Thus, go back to the spaces page and create a new space for each system. o For example, suppose you have a two story home with one heat pump serving the first story and another heat pump serving the second story. On the Spaces page add two new spaces, one called 1 st floor and one called 2 nd floor. Then go to the floor, ceiling, and wall screen and assign each component to either the 1 st floor or 2 nd floor space. In some cases you may need to split a component, for example, a wall, into two entries. If you add walls, you may need to visit the door and window pages to determine if you need to reassign windows or doors to your new wall. o Go to the Block page and using your mouse, drag the Spaces to be served under the correct Block in the tree on the left. In the
case of the two story home described above, we recommend having Block 1 be assigned the 1 st floor Space and Block 2 the 2 nd floor Space. You can also right click on the block name in the tree on the Block page and rename it. o Go to the heating, cooling and mechanical ventilation pages and assign the correct Block for each system Save your file. o Once you have reassigned every component, you can double check your work and clean up your file by going back to the Space page and delete the Main Space that was imported as it should have no components assigned to it. EnergyGauge will provide a warning if there are still components assigned to Main. Duct page: Verify each cooling and heating system assigned to the duct system is correct. Project page o Conditioned Floor Area entry has been replaced with the uneditable calculated sum of Spaces page areas. To change this value, go to the Spaces page and modify the space that requires altering. o Bedrooms will no longer be entered on the Project page and will only be entered on the Spaces page Windows page displays a new Impact checkbox used in the 2010 Florida Code R Value and UA Alternative Methods Duct entries, duct regain and the impact on results: o Duct regain has been implemented in 3.00 and heat loss or gain to the unconditioned space containing ducts is accounted for in the model. This will increase or decrease the e Ratio of buildings accordingly. The greatest impact will be in homes with basements. o For homes with sealed attics, do not select ducts in conditioned space if they are above the ceiling. Leave them in the attic and they will be correctly modeled. Mechanical ventilation has been removed from the Infiltration page and has a new tab under the Equipment tab. You may create and assign a mechanical ventilation system for each block. Hot water entries: o The modeling of hot water systems is improved. Tankless is now an option for hot water sub types. The Florida code now has a performance correction factor for tankless systems. Tank heat losses are modeled in the space they occur in. You can now select a heat pump hot water system without using the conservation credit. You may select either the type or the conservation credit heat pump hot water, but not both. o The cooling effect within the space a heat pump hot water heater is assigned will impact the e ratio. Worst Case Report o The Worst Case Report currently supports electric only heating and cooling systems. This will be fixed in a future release.