by Shane Henson — May 15, 2013—Ekotrope, a developer of software for analyzing and designing energy-efficient buildings, has been selected by Green Key Village, the developer of a fully sustainable new Florida subdivision, to assist the group in achieving its energy efficiency and sustainability goals for the subdivision.
The Green Key Village venture comprises 145 eco-friendly homes available in ten customizable floor plans. Each will be fully sustainable as defined and certified by the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) and the Home Energy Rating System (HERS).
Green Key Village’s biggest challenge was to ensure that each development could be customized, and result in a net-zero energy status at a cost-effective price, it says.
Ekotrope’s software suite is based on an advanced algorithm developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that allows developers, builders and design-build firms to analyze energy-efficient and cost-effective configurations of different building envelopes and heating and cooling systems.
“When embarking on this new development, it was crucial for us to understand all the cost, energy and sustainability build options available to us in detail,” says Greg Thomas, managing member for Green Key Village. “For each individual design plan, this meant considering more than 10,000 unique variables. Our buyers can also choose from ten different, fully sustainable designs. That’s why we chose Ekotrope—the software is amazingly sophisticated but easy-to-use, enabling us to intuitively review and compare a wide array of build and material options.”
