The Journey
1.
Search and Discovery: The quest for a new software solution was driven by the desire to overcome previous limitations such as inflexible interfaces, limited customer support, and labor-intensive processes. This led them to a first-of-its-kind, cloud-based platform designed to foster interconnectivity among teams in design and pre-construction phases. This platform promised to address their pain points and significantly enhance their workflow.
2.
Tyler Tonjum, PE, Supervising MEP Engineer at Jackola, highlighted the transformative impact of the load modeling tool, noting a timesaving of up to 50% during the Discovery phase. The tool's simplicity and user-friendly interface revolutionized their design process. Furthermore, the drawing tool feature allowed advanced 3D modeling and visualization, enabling more tailored strategies for client projects.
3.
Collaboration, Efficiency, and Machine Learning: The program collaboration features significantly improved Jackola's workflow. The ability for multiple team members to work simultaneously on a project, coupled with real-time commentary from supervising engineers, fostered a more comprehensive and efficient design process. The integration of machine learning facilitated the identification of cost-effective and high-performance designs for clients, streamlining building plans with detailed calculations and system sizing.
4.
A Comprehensive Workflow: Combining early-stage data from the analysis tool with detailed calculations from its load modeling, Jackola harnessed a powerful, sustainable building design workflow. The platform's default templates, calibrated to mirror real-world scenarios, centralized key analyses from fields of building science into one platform, like energy, daylight, shadow, water, climate, carbon, cost, and more, Jackola’s multi-discipline team can analyze items ranging from internal heat loads to building orientation and identify any annual operating expenses associated with the combination of design elements. In real time, the engineers and architects can create scenarios to help clients achieve their project goals, from NetZero to operational cost and thermal insulation. This integration allowed Jackola to refine elements such as internal heat load inputs and annual operating expenses.
5.
Optimizing Design and Cost-Savings: Using cove.tool's energy modeling and parametric optimization, Jackola was able to create smarter, more accurate models in a fraction of the time. This enables Jackola to provide owners with metrics to make decisions. For example, how much does it cost to heat a parking garage over a year, how much is saved by adding a heat recovery ventilator or insulation, or is it going to be expensive to cool the parking garage. Systems can be optimized and informed decisions can be made for a specific system. For a sample apartment building PTAC (Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner) systems, though they cannot operate to temperatures as low as a mini split (~25F vs ~-13F) they only have a 10% in annual energy premium. Cove.tool allows us to easily provide these metrics. The ability to customize templates and schedules for thermal zones, air systems, and equipment enabled the team to simulate various mechanical design schematics efficiently. Their use of the analysis tool to test materials for energy-saving capabilities resulted in significant cost savings, unlocking a savings of nearly $20,000 in annual operating costs in one case, and a rapid proposal turnaround time. Jackola's journey with cove.tool is a testament to how our growing engineers took ownership of a problem and created a solution embracing innovative software solutions to revolutionize industry practices. This partnership not only enhanced their internal operations and project efficiency but also solidified a relationship with a growing software company, setting a new standard for Jackola building design and analysis.
