![]() Please be clear about the differnce between cost-free and Libre when discussing this subject - they are not the same thing at all. ![]() For most building stuff it'll be just fine. ![]() It's not at all fast, which matters for actual simulations, but we want to pass that off to C/C++ implmentations like ESP-r and other tools anyway. I agree evan, python is an appropriate language for this sort of thing, and there seems to be some quite good numerical support, because all the medical research types use it. Personally, I like an apps that can be run locally too, but if you get the UI right then it can be run remotely or locally and look essentially the same. (my lack of expertise in this area is one thing that is holding this project back - I'd love to talk to a competent web-app person about this stuff). AJAX and a whole load of other stuff I only vaguely understand is the right sort of tech. Paul, you don't write nice webapps by constantly refreshing the page (any more): things have moved on (see google docs for a well-done example). Also, I notice it's £95 per year, not once off. As well there were clearly some problems with the Mac version, as if it's not kept up to date or something. Maybe it's OK if you are familiar with SAP software to start with, but I found the layout and interface quite baffling and frustrating. Paul, I tried the Mac version of your software earlier this year. I'd be tempted to contribute myself once I have more time. I have seen some quite complex open source software written like this, with surprising ease by the authors, and resulting in a very usable system. I think that it would lend itself ideally to a fairly high level language which will run on any platform, python for example, perhaps with a web interface. I think that there are a lot of uses for such software outside of new-builds where the cost of a commercial package is justified. If many people are looking for free solution, and are prepared to put some of their own time and expertise towards an open source version, this would be beneficial for them and everyone else who needs it. You'll also need to factor in the cost of accreditation and monitoring. You can download demo versions of Elmhurst and NHER software to give them a try. He was very annoyed when I showed him that the Zenex and other Appendix Q products were already integrated directly in Elmhurst's software and took me 20 seconds to enter rather than using the very tricky Appendix Q worksheets which can take hours. However BRE have not yet updated the worksheet to SAP 2009 so he can't asses it properly. He was supposed to assess it using the worksheet from the Appendix Q website. However he was having problems with entering details for a Zenex gas saver which are a very useful additions to lower DER. I recently used a demo version of NHER SAP rather than my own ELmhurst software to produce a report for planning showing how to achieve this 10% as it saved me the effort having to calculate the other uses. Although this isn't needed for SAP a number of local authorities require 10% of all energy used (including other uses such as cooking, etc) to be provided by renewables. The NHER software seemed to have a slightly better screen for calculated thermal bridging.Īnother advantage of NHER is that it calcuates energy usage for other items such as cooking, etc. I met up with another local SAP assessor yesterday who uses NHER SAP software. The software has just been upgraded to SAP 2009 so I too am trying to get my head around it. Like delboy I'd love to be able to easily change repeating specifications in blocks of dwellings with one click rather than having to change the item for each individual dwelling, although I'm not sure if any software does this. I've always found the software reliable and their technical/software support very good. Until very recenlty it had remained pretty much the same in the 5 or so years that I've been using it.
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