MEC 522 - Building Energy Dynamics and Technology

Building is treated as a time-dependent energy system, with its interactive components coupled through energy and mass flows under an environment defined in terms of sunlight, ambient air and wind and with its equipment which assist in meeting building-dwellers comfort requirements. Major components discussed are thermal mass (both interior mass and envelope mass) and their thermal capacities, building envelopes and their heat transfer resistances, room air including its circulation and heat exchange with thermal mass, and the transparent part of the envelope the glazing or windows and the solar system passing through it during the day and the heat loss during the night time. Major equipment include lighting, air circulation system, cooling and heating equipment, solar thermal panels and solar PV panels, and other equipment including integrated electric and control units. Of the comfort requirements only temperature-and-humidity and illumination are studied with the objective of creating, through a system-understanding of the building, buildings that in the short run meet these requirements involving minimal use of energy and in the long run are benchmarked against the environmentally regenerative capabilities of wilderness.

3 credits

Grading Letter graded (A, A-, B+, etc.)

Offered Offered in Spring,