This page explains Enscape Impact workflows and settings.
Settings
The first field is Location. This is a mandatory field. If your CAD project is geolocated, that location will show up here automatically. However, if there is no information, you can simply type in the location in the search bar and select your desired location.
Location
The second mandatory field is the Building Type. There are a few standard options to choose from depending on the category your building stands in.
Building Type
The third mandatory field is the Build Year of the building. Here, you have to choose a date when the building was constructed.
Build Year
The fourth field asks you for the last Renovation Year of the building. This field is optional.
Dashboard
The Impact Analysis Dashboard gives you the analysis based on your project design and input. It is important to make sure the project is set to its True North. The solar impact will be calculated based on the true orientation of the building and not the sun settings saved in Enscape. The following two images compare varying results of the same model where one is located in Boston and the other in Los Angeles.
Impact Analysis Dashboard
Location: Boston
Location: Los Angeles
Peak Loads refer to the highest levels of energy consumption in a building. Typically occurring during periods of maximum demand. It is essentially a sum of heating energy, cooling energy, internal gains and solar gains. It helps determine the capacity needed for systems like HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) to ensure they can handle these peak demands efficiently.
Total Carbon Emission reflects the carbon dioxide emission resulting from various building activities, particularly related to energy consumption. High CO2 levels contribute to climate change and are a key focus in sustainability efforts.
Energy Use Intensity quantifies a building’s energy consumption per unit area (e.g. per square meter). It helps assess a building’s efficiency and compare it to industry benchmarks. A lower EUI indicates better energy efficiency.
Energy End Use refers to the specific purposes or applications for which energy is consumed within a building. This information helps identify opportunities for energy savings through more efficient technologies or behaviors.
Dashboard
Visualization
Impact also provides you with the option to visualize your building analysis in your project model. To enable this, you simply have to go to the Performance Map options at the bottom of the sidebar. Under each map type, you can click on the map you want to apply on the visualization. This will transform your Enscape view mode to white and will apply colors to your model reflecting these performance maps.
Performance Map
Heating Energy, Cooling Energy for Peak Loads and Annual Energy, as well as Solar Energy under Thermal Gains. The quick comparison represents these visual modes with their color scales. All closed spaces are calculated and complete rooms are visualized through use of transparency applied on your complete project model.
Impact runs on the IES Apache technology. The weather data used for building location is extracted from Ashrae Weather Data Center. If you want to learn more, check out the Enscape Impact Video Tutorial.