“When you look at a house as a complete system, you make better cost/energy performance trade-offs that you just can’t make when looking at a single component in isolation,” says Ekotrope founder and CEO Ziv Rozenblum, “We give builders a firm grasp of the big picture, so they can control their bottom line.”
David Metz, vice president of national purchasing at Drees Homes, says the Ekotrope solution will aid in the company’s DreeSmart Building Innovations Program. “Ekotrope is an important building block in a comprehensive building and energy strategy that helps us future proof our homes,” says Metz.
Backed by a team of experts in energy and systems analysis, building science, and software development, Ekotrope’s optimization engine grew from founder Edward Crawley’s desire to find the most energy-efficient design for his own home while keeping costs as low as possible. Crawley, an MIT professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, drew on NASA technology he designed to develop the technology, helping builders analyze component tradeoffs, construction techniques, and design options to find the best energy and investment combinations by zip code and fuel type, among other important factors.
By: Sandra Malm