ME 423 Fundamentals of Building Science

Introduction to the fundamental concepts of building science. Buildings as a system, including interactions among subsystems such as heating and cooling, ventilation, the thermal envelope, air leakage, and occupants. Building energy efficiency. Performance of heating, cooling, and ventilating systems. Indoor air quality and other health and safety issues, including assessing and resolving moisture problems. Applications of common and cutting-edge building science measurement and monitoring tools. The class will include one lecture and one lab session each week. Some/all of the lecture portion of the course may be delivered online through course-management software. Group projects may involve laboratory measurement, field monitoring, and/or computer simulation. Also offered for graduate-level credit as ME 523 and may be taken only once for credit.