Design Tools

Sponsored by the Idaho Power Company, the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab (UI-IDL) developed this series of infographics to communicate sustainable design & practice Benefits of five different building types for their bottom line impact on efficiency for each building type.

Sponsored by the Idaho Power Company, the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab (UI-IDL) developed this series of infographics to communicate how four different building types consume energy on both a regional and national level.

The Idaho Power Company funded the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab (UI-IDL) to produce a series of climate design resources to help assist in the conceptual and early design of passive strategies.

The Daylighting Pattern Guide is the newest offering in the Advanced Buildings suite of tools and resources to help design teams create high performance commercial buildings.

The Climate Responsive Design web tool is designed to graphically illustrate the feasibility and potential energy benefits of several climate responsive design strategies.

A key factor in building heat gain and loss may be the infiltration rate, or the rate at which outdoor air is exchanged with conditioned interior air through the envelope. This spreadsheet tool outlines a set of simplified equations aimed at converting typical, real world infiltration measurements into metrics that can be input into EnergyPlus.

This spreadsheet was created in order to aid with determining the fan inputs into EnergyPlus via equations from ASHRARE 90.1 Appendix G (for baseline systems) and fan specifications (for proposed systems).

This spreadsheet is designed to calculate insulation values of individual material layers and whole constructions of EnergyPlus objects.

This spread sheet was created in order to aid with the processing and analysis of building energy usage. In order to operate this spread sheet you will need the following bills for each month in the period you wish to analyze

This tool aims to provide designers, engineers, and manufacturers a quick and easy way to calculate energy savings from the application of different heat pump HVAC technologies early in the design process.

Sponsored by the Idaho Power Company, the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab (UI-IDL) developed this series of infographics to communicate how COVID-19 has brought the issue of indoor air quality to the forefront of building science.

Annual simulation of dynamic/complex fenestration systems under LM-83 guidelines. This script will generate its own folder structure beyond the starting directories required, which are outlined below.

This spreadsheet is designed to handle meter data provided in the Idaho Power format. IPC provides hourly kW data in a table where each row is a day and each column is an hour.

Sponsored by the Idaho Power Company, the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab (UI-IDL) developed this series of infographics to communicate how four different building types consume energy on both a regional and national level.

This simple web form walks you through the fundamental choices necessary to select an HVAC system design for your existing building or proposed design, including the pros and cons of different selections.

Sponsored by the Idaho Power Company, the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab (UI-IDL) developed this series of infographics to communicate how four different building types consume energy on both a regional and national level.

The Building Performance Database (BPD) is the nation's largest dataset of information about the energy-related characteristics of commercial and residential buildings.

ECAM provides a standardized and transparent means for measurement and verification (M&V) of energy savings. Its consistent, repeatable methodology for measuring savings adheres to the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol – IPMVP (Efficiency Valuation Organization, 2012).

Sponsored by the Idaho Power Company, the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab (UI-IDL) developed this series of infographics to communicate how four different building types consume energy on both a regional and national level.

Sponsored by the Idaho Power Company, the University of Idaho Integrated Design Lab (UI-IDL) developed this series of infographics to communicate how four different building types consume energy on both a regional and national level.

HELIOS — High-Efficiency Lighting & IECC Optimization System. A guided sequence of design-phase tools — from establishing the lighting power allowance through daylight zones, the fenestration envelope, and the final interior and exterior compliance checks. for IECC 2018 C405.

SOLIS is a self-contained, field-to-report audit tool for K–12 lighting retrofits under Idaho Power’s Commercial incentive programs. Survey the existing system, model the LED retrofit, compare every incentive path, and generate the verification report — entirely in your browser, online or off.

This suite recovers the graphic climate-analysis methods from Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies (Brown & DeKay, 3rd ed.) and rebuilds them as fast, self-contained web tools. These methods were never abandoned for lack of accuracy — they were abandoned because they were slow to draw by hand. Automating them returns them to the schematic phase, where they have the greatest design leverage.

Daylighting Multipliers is a design-education resource for architects, engineers, and building professionals who want to move beyond simply putting glass in a wall. It focuses on the strategies that multiply the daylight already entering a building — orientation and sun-path analysis, window refinement, light shelves, clerestories, skylights, and shading — so spaces are lit more deeply, more evenly, and with less reliance on electric lighting. The emphasis is on getting the details right: balancing energy savings with real occupant comfort, avoiding common missteps in site and form, and distinguishing true daylight harvesting (the kind that earns code credit and utility incentives) from a space that merely looks daylit.