ALF help

How to get started

The ALF program allows you to put a range of building designs into the computer and evaluate their particular heating energy efficiency. The program checks New Zealand Building Code compliance and allows comparisons between different designs. ALF also contains a Heater Sizer module which helps you to design the correct heater size for a room.

Each project in ALF can contain up to 30 different designs which can be compared against each other. This allows you to store and evaluate different thermal design features of any building such as different insulation levels, different window types, various building orientations, different levels of thermal mass and any other design options. You can switch between and add different designs using the «Current Design» drop down list in the top right hand corner of the screen.

The ALF program is structured in two sections - the Design section and the Results section. Additionally it offers you a set of tools to improve your design and to size heating appliances. You can access each of the two sections by clicking on one of the buttons on the lower right hand corner of the screen. The Design and the Results sections each contain a number of pages which you can select by clicking on the tabs at the bottom of each of the windows.

• The first section is the Design section. This is where you enter data on the building design, on the climate and on the heating behaviour of the occupants. You also enter data about building components such as floors, walls, the air infiltration etc. You open this section by clicking on the Building Design Button.
• The second section is the Results section. It shows you how the building which you have described in the Design Section performs in terms of heating energy consumption. Each of the pages in the Results section contains different aspects and details of the thermal performance of the current building design such as tabulated heat losses through different components, comparisons of the current design against a reference design and checks of compliance of the current design with the New Zealand Building Code. You open this section by clicking on the Results button.