gTools - Cloud Simulator That Helps With Energy Efficiency Analysis

Learn how to run analyses on 3D models with gTools

Produced by the English company greenspaceLive, the gtools toolkit contains several tools and cloud services aimed at performing energy efficiency analyses of a model made in SketchUp or another program. gtools consists of:

Promotional image gWorkspace: This is a cloud storage service, from which you can run the gEnergy and gZPC energy simulations.

gModeller: This is a SketchUp plugin that lets you classify the objects in your model, so you can export it as gbxml and upload it to the cloud (via gWorkspace) in order to run the gEnergy and gEPC simulations from it.

gEnergy: This is an analysis simulator based on Energy Plus, free software offered by the U.S. government's Department of Energy. You can upload gbxml files coming from SketchUp (configured and exported with gModeller) or from any other source.

gEPC: This is an analysis simulator that follows the parameters of the English body CLG (Corporate Leadness Group on Climate Change). Just like gEnergy, gEPC uses gbxml files exported from SketchUp or other programs.

You can find gTools on the greenspaceLive website. The cost of use ranges from US$10 to US$80 per month and depends on storage capacity, offered in three options: Lite, Standard, and Premium. (Prices as of February 2015).

  Bibliographic reference: GASPAR, João. SketchUp Pro Avançado. São Paulo: ProBooks, 2015, which can be purchased online in print or e-book format! Click for more information!