[RE-wrenches] layout software

Phil Undercuffler P.Undercuffler at conergy.us
Tue Aug 5 11:29:21 PDT 2008


I'll second the vote for Sketchup.  First, I love free.  Second, it's
really fun (but I'm weird that way).  

 

The standard shadow / sun position tool built into the program works
amazingly well, but if you want to get more gonzo you can add plugins
which give greater control.  I haven't played with them all so I can't
vet for them, but one source for a couple sun/shadow plugins is
http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2007/09/plugin-index-page.html

 

Good tips & training available at:

http://www.chrispicciano.com/3dmain.htm

http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/training/

http://blogs.taunton.com/n/blogs/blog.aspx?webtag=fw-designforum

 

Have fun!

 

 

Phil Undercuffler

Director, Battery-based and Off-grid

Conergy Sales & Systems, Americas

Our World Is Full of Energy

1730 Camino Carlos Rey Suite 103

Santa Fe, NM  87507

p.undercuffler at conergy.us <mailto:p.undercuffler at conergy.us> 

Direct | 505.216.3841

Toll Free | 888.396.6611 x4841

Fax | 505.473.3830

www.conergy.us <http://www.conergy.us/> 

________________________________

From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Kelly
Keilwitz, Whidbey Sun & Wind
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 11:37 AM
To: RE Wrenches listserve
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] layout software

 

Hi Nik,
We recently started using Google's 3-D program "Sketchup" for our
layouts. The basic program is free and fairly fast to get started with.
It allows us to give prospective customers a simple perspective drawing
showing how it will look. It has a shading feature that allows you to
move the sun through the day to see what effect shading has. Definitely
a good tool for more the less-conventional layouts like you describe.
-Kelly


On 8/3/08 6:13 PM, "Nicholas Ponzio" <nponzio at buildingenergyus.com>
wrote:

Wrenches,

I've got several PV prospects with east-facing roofs. Does anyone have
suggestions about easy calculations for inter-row spacing? It's more
complicated than the flat-roof or low pitch south-facing roofs. Seems
like there ought to be some fancy 3D modeling software for PV designers
that could do this in a few key strokes...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

-Nik Ponzio


--
Nicholas Ponzio
Building Energy
1570 South Brownell Road
Williston, VT 05495

t: 802-859-3384
f: 802-658-3982
www.BuildingEnergyVT.com <http://www.BuildingEnergyVT.com> 
nponzio at buildingenergyus.com

"Building Solutions for a Sustainable Future"



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Kelly Keilwitz, P.E.
Whidbey Sun & Wind, LLC
Renewable Energy Systems
NABCEP Certified PV Installer
987 Wanamaker Rd, 
Coupeville, WA 98239 
PH & FAX 360-678-7131
sunwind at whidbeysunwind.com



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