Changelog

Changelog : BETTER

v1.7.3 (2024-11-30)

User Interface

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Updated the GHG emission factors: (1) added default factors for more countries, (2) updated the factors for existing countries and US eGrid regions with 2024 data.

v1.7.2 (2024-10-30)

User Interface

  • Added new space type: worship facility.
  • Updated the FAQ, space type definition document, and API documentation for the newly added space type.
  • Improved the display for several columns in the Portfolio and Building details page: changing from tokens to human-readable names.

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Updated the Excel upload template to include the new space type: worship facility.

v1.7.1 (2024-08-31)

Release plan

User Interface

  • Added new data privacy policy.
  • Improved the error pages (created branded pages for 403, 404, 429, and 500 responses).
  • User interface behavior due to the new data privacy policy:
  • During the grace period from 2024-8-31 to 2024-9-30, existing APP users will be notified upon login to accept the new data privacy policy. Users who have not accepted the new data privacy policy can skip to their dashboard and use BETTER normally.
  • After the grace period, existing APP users who have not accepted the new data privacy policy will not be able to access the application until they accept the policy.

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Updated the reCAPTCHA integration to the new user sign-up page.
  • Fixed bugs in unit conversion in data upload Excel template.
  • Added a new middleware to check users' acceptance of the new data privacy policy.

API Changes

  • Fixed bugs in Net Zero Energy feature (use_pvwatts) for portfolio and building analytics creation.
  • API behavior change due to the new data privacy policy:
  • During the grace period from 2024-8-31 to 2024-9-30, existing API users can access all API endpoints as before. They are notified to login to their account and accept the new data privacy policy.
  • After the grace period, existing API users who have not accepted the new data privacy policy will receive an error message indicating they have not accepted the new data privacy policy. Once they log in to their account and accept the new data privacy policy, they can access the API as before.
  • Added error message to notify users who have not accepted the new data privacy policy.

v1.7.0 (2024-06-30)

User Interface

  • Added toggle function for portfolio summary bar chart.
  • Show utility billing periods used to estimate the energy and cost savings in the Building Analytics page.
  • Show PV sufficiency results for before and after EE improvements.
  • Updated News Feed.

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Automatically download recent weather file.
  • Use place-holder number (0.001) to distinguish actual "zero consumption" and missing values for utility bills.

API Changes

Portfolio Analytics endpoint

  • The json data returned from the portfolio analytics detail endpoint used to have a key dict_ee_counts ...that information is now in the measure_counts key.
  • This measure_counts key now has a dictionary as a value, with the token for the measure as the key and the number of instances as the count. Before, the dict_ee_counts was actually a list of lists (not a dictionary as the name implied).
Before Now
image of API
image of API

Portfolio Building Analytics and Building Analytics endpoints

The json data returned from the BA and PBA endpoints used to have a ee_measures key in the "assessments" dictionary with a dictionary of true / false values for every measure.

image of API

Now, that same ee_measures key points to a list with the tokens for each measure that applies. There is no need to check for true or false...if the measure is in the list, it applies.

"ee_measures":[
    "REDUCE_EQUIPMENT_SCHEDULES",
    "REDUCE_LIGHTING_LOAD",
    "REDUCE_PLUG_LOADS",
    "DECREASE_HEATING_SETPOINTS",
    "USE_HIGH_EFFICIENCY_HEAT_PUMP_FOR_HEATING"
]

Measures

The API provides information for measures and measure details. An API user can look up a measure by its token to get details about the measure.

Please see the new pages in docs for details:

  • /docs/api/measures/
  • /docs/api/measure_resources/

Application and Data Model Changes

  • EE measures were refactored to use a relational model rather than static dictionaries. This allows for more flexibility in the future.

v1.6.4 (2024-04-08)

User Interface

  • Improve error message and suggestions for no model-fit scenarios (#327).
  • Updated the API documentation about available building types with default benchmark statistics (#238).
  • Added available building types with default benchmark statistics to the FAQ page (#238).
  • Updated News Feed (#337).
  • Added tool version number in About menu (#317).
  • Added FIM logic to How It Works page (#290).

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Added an optional roof area column the BETTER Excel template (#217).
  • Removed the deprecated "Outdoor Air Temperature" column from the BETTER Excel data templage (#341).

v1.6.3 (2024-03-24)

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Updated the minimum value limits for utility bill consumption and cost from 1.0 to 0.001 (#338)

v1.6.2 (2024-03-08)

API Changes

  • Fixed bug where Net Zero Energy feature (use_pvwatts) cannot be used for portfolio analytics creation. (#332)

v1.6.1 (2024-02-29)

User Interface

  • Added default benchmark statistics for U.S. Public Library; updated the default benchmark statistics for U.S. K-12 schools; improved FAQ page.
  • Updated the FAQ page for better user guidance.

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Added default benchmark statistics for U.S. Public Library.
  • Added new currencies for display:
    • Argentina: Argentine peso (ARS / $)
    • Ukraine: Ukrainian hryvna (UAH / ₴)
    • Chile: Chilean peso (CLP / $)
    • Nigeria: Nigerian naira (NGN / ₦)
    • South Africa: South African rand (ZAR / R)
    • Thailand: Thai baht (THB / ฿)
    • Indonesia: Indonesian rupiah (IDR / Rp)
    • Egypt: Egyptian pound (EGP / E£)
    • Vietnam: Vietnamese dong (VND / ₫)
    • Dominican Republic: Dominican peso (DOP / RD$)
  • Updated the Excel templates (i.e., English, French, and Spanish versions) to include Public Library as a new space type, and new currencies selections.
  • Updated the default proxy fuel prices.
  • Fixes internationalization issue.

v1.6.0 (2023-11-30)

User Interface

  • Improved error messages for template imports during portfolio creation.

API Changes

  • Optimized UtilityBill creation during Building POST. (#299)
  • API now returns a more informative error message when a building can't be created due to missing weather files. After returning the error, in the background BETTER will attempt to download the missing weather files, such that when the user tries again the weather data is available. (#311)

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Updated utility bill loading process (via UI or API ) to get missing weather data for each bill before processing utility bills. (#231)
  • Fixes internationalization issue (#293).
  • Improved the traction page. (#305)

v1.5.1 (2023-10-18)

User Interface

  • Updated graph colors to be accessible.
  • The utility bill visualization block is now hidden if there are no utility bills.

API Changes

  • Increased throttle rate.
  • Fixed bug in the build analytics assessment data: all values in the ee_measures dictionary are now either True or False.

Application and Data Model Changes

  • A few small bugs were fixed.

v1.5 (2023-09-15)

User Interface

  • Added Tunisian Dinar (TND) as a currency option.
  • Improved translation across site.
  • Updated Utility Bill interface to show all SI and IP units available for selected fuel type.

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Added health information for eligible EEMs.
  • Enabled building space type specific EEMs for Office, K-12 School, and Multifamily housing.
  • Updated dependencies to latest versions.

v1.4 (2023-07-12)

User Interface

  • Updated BETTER | Mexico and BETTER | Tunisia landing pages.
  • Updated the PVWatts® section of the building create and edit user interface.
  • Added better error handling for template imports. More descriptive errors are provided for each building that could not be loaded.
  • Refined French and Spanish translations on various pages.
  • Updates Portfolio Analytics buildings table to include R² values for Fossil Fuel and Electricity data.

Application and Data Model Changes

  • Updated to PVWatts® v8 API. ( See the PVWatts® documentation for more information on internal changes to PVWatts® from v6 to v8.)
  • Updated the default benchmark statistics for U.S. K-12 schools.
  • Added default benchmark statistics for Tunisia hotels.
  • Added weather-sensitive electricity and fossil fuel breakdown to building analytics.
  • Added French and Spanish versions of the data upload templates.

API Changes

  • Updated the API docs to include notes about PVWatts® API changes.
  • Added sanity check for utility bill start and end dates.
  • Added weather-sensitive electricity and fossil fuel fields to building_analytics GET API response.
  • Removed building links in the standalone portfolio analytics HTML report unless users explicitly ask for them.

v1.3 (2023-05-05)

Added Features

  • The Portfolio form has been updated to allow a currency to be defined and changed.
  • The Building form has been updated to allow a currency to be defined and changed for "stand-alone" buildings.
  • When creating a Portfolio from an Excel template, BETTER now shows you more detailed error information for each building that could not be loaded as well as suggested actions to resolve each error.

User Interface

  • New country-specific pages were added.
  • A Changelog page was added.
  • The top navigation bar was changed slightly.
  • The site footer was extended and slightly restyled.
  • A portfolio currency selector was added to the user system settings page.

API Changes

  • A portfolio can now be created with a currency property. This is a three letter currency code (e.g. USD) that will be used for portfolio analytics, as well as building analytics for all buildings in the portfolio. If not provided, the portfolio's currency will be set to the current default currency in the user's "system settings."
  • A portfolio's currency property can now be updated via the portfolio detail endpoint. This property also appears in the list and detail endpoints.
  • A building can now be created with a currency property, if it is a "stand-alone" building and not part of a portfolio. This property can be edited via a PATCH request.
  • A building's currency property can be updated via the building detail endpoint, if that building is a "stand-alone" building and not part of a portfolio. This property also appears in the list and detail endpoints.
  • A new show_building_links GET variable can be passed to the API when downloading a Portfolio Analytics HTML report. When this variable is set to 'true', the downloaded HTML report will adds hyperlinks to each building listed in the "Buildings" table of the report. (When the GET variable is not present, links are not added).
  • The API docs were updated to include information about currency and show_building_links.

Application and Data Model Changes

  • A building_currency field was added to the Building model. A currency getter property was added to this model for use in templates.
  • A portfolio_currency field was added to the SystemSettings model.

v1.2 (2023-02-17)

A collection of changes that were included in the v1.2 release of BETTER.

Added Features

  • Added PVWatts® calculations to BuildingAnalytics and PortfolioAnalytics.
  • Updated the API to allow user to request PVWatts® calculations during BuildingAnalytics or PortfolioAnalytics requests.

Application and Data Model Changes

  • BuildingAnalytics instances now apply only to individual buildings, not buildings in portfolios. When buildings are contained in a Portfolio and are part of a building subset chosen for a particular PortfolioAnalytics, the building's analytics data is stored in a separate PortfolioBuildingAnalytics model instance.
  • The direction of the foreign key relation between the Assessment, Benchmark and InverseModel models with BuildingAnalytics model was reversed.
  • BuildingAnalytics objects that are related to a PortfolioAnalytics were copied to PortfolioBuildingAnalytics models and then deleted.
  • Changed the benchmark_data property on the BuildingAnalytics and PortfolioAnalytics model to benchmark_data_type to help indicate this is a constant describing data type, not actual data.
  • The 'Electricity' and 'Fuel Type' keys in the model_coeffs JSON field of the InverseModel model are now ' ELECTRICITY' and 'FUEL_TYPE'.
  • The 'Electricity' and 'Fuel Type' keys in the benchmark_results JSON field of the Benchmark model are now ' ELECTRICITY' and 'FUEL_TYPE'.
  • The 'Electricity' and 'Fuel Type' keys in the assessment_results JSON field of the Assessment model are now ' ELECTRICITY' and 'FUEL_TYPE'.
  • Portfolio currency is now always stored in the DB as the three letter symbol for the currency (e.g. USD). Previously some entries were complete strings, such as "US dollar (USD / $)".
  • The User model now has a relation to a new SystemSettings model that contains things like PVWattsInputs settings.
  • The choice values stored in the BuildingAnalytics savings_target field are now all uppercase.

API Changes

  • The portfolio property for buildings shown via the building list endpoint is replaced by a portfolio_id property with an integer value and a portfolio_name property with a string value.
  • To speed up the API, when buildings are shown in a list (for example, when listing buildings via the portfolio detail endpoint), the API no longer includes stations,utility_bills or analytics properties. These are only available when requesting a single building detail.
  • The benchmark_data property has changed to benchmark_data_type.
  • A new pvwatts_inputs key now appears on the building detail endpoint. This object lists PVWatts® inputs for this building (see the online docs for details).
  • The building_analytics_set property in the portfolio analytics endpoint is renamed to a portfolio_building_analytics_set property to disambiguate it from building analytics.
  • The unit GET variable option (e.g. ?unit=SI) is renamed to units (e.g. ?units=SI).

User Interface

  • Various UI updates including inclusion of AG-Grid for better performance and usability for table-based information.
  • Refactoring of Django templates for clarity and reusability.
  • Refactoring for conventional approaches to form handling by leveraging Django Form and ModelForm classes and workflow.
  • Internationalization of template files and application code, and the addition of a language selector.
  • Update of Portfolio and PortfolioAnalytics asynchronous calculation to show progressive progress bar and a more complete results page.
  • Creation of a user "Settings" page with default settings for PVWatts®.
  • Included HTMx front-end logic and server routes and methods for a more responsive user interface.
  • Updated form logic to better handle and validate relationship between fields.