HEED (Home Energy Efficient Design) shows architects, builders, and homeowners how to design or remodel their buildings to reduce or even eliminate air conditioning loads. It is intended for use at the very beginning of the design process, when most of the critical decisions effecting energy consumption are
made.

This paper goes step-by-step through a
typical building remodeling design using HEED. It shows graphically the differences in performance between various passive cooling alternatives including things like window shading, thermal mass, ventilation, improved
envelope, and optimized shape and
orientation, etc. Among the features users especially appreciate is the simple way they can draw in floor plans and how they can drag
and drop windows onto each facade. HEED shows them bar charts comparing the difference in heating and cooling energy costs for up to nine different designs. The objective is to facilitate a simple, non-technical, smooth flowing, decision-making experience.