Chapter 1: Background to Building Energy

• Appreciation of the importance of building energy use
• Familiarity with activities of USDO E’s Buildings Technology Office (BTO) and Building Energy Data Book ( BEDB)
• Familiarity with how overall energy use patterns changed historically and with building type- and reasons for it
• Familiarity with how residences and commercial buildings differ in terms of end-use energy
• Familiarity with different phases of a building in its life cycle and role of different building professionals
• Be able to evaluate energy investments using simple energy payback criterion
• Competence in unit conversions (SI and IP units)
• Appreciation of usefulness of order of magnitude calculations

Chapter 2: Fluid Flow and Thermodynamics

• Competence in basic physical properties: mass, volume, pressure, temperature, density, viscosity
• Competence in basic thermal properties: specific heat, heat of vaporization, internal energy, enthalpy, entropy
• Understand phase changes and kinetic theory.
• Familiarity with Gibbs phase rule and its usefulness
• Familiarity with real and ideal gases, and Ideal Gas Law
• Familiarity with different flow regimes, turbulent and laminar flows through pipes and flat surfaces
• Understand how to apply conservation of mass and momentum principles
• Familiarity with different forms of stored energy
• Understand the difference between stored energy and energy transfer
• Understand the application of the first law of thermodynamics to closed and open systems
• Familiarity with the second law of thermodynamic and its usefulness which limits energy conservation and the direction of flow
• Understand difference between the three modes of HT: conduction, convection, and radiation
• Appreciate distinction between 1-D, 2-D and 3-D conduction HT
• Familiarity with concepts of conductivity and resistivity of materials
• Understand analogy of heat transfer and electricity networks
• Be able to solve problems involving conduction HT through simple and composite walls under series and parallel configurations
• Understand concept of conduction shape factor and its usefulness
• Understand the usefulness and limitations of Newton’s law of cooling
• Familiarity with different correlations to estimate convective HT
• Be able to apply correlations to solve forced and natural convection problems
• Be able to analyze problems involving combined conduction-convection HT
• Appreciate the differences and applicability between the two possible network wall network configurations for analyzing HT through a composite wall
• Familiarity with the solar wavelength spectrum with its different bands
• Familiarity with Plank’s law and Wien’s law
• Be able to solve problems involving Stefan?Boltzmann equation
• Familiarity with the various optical properties of materials
• Familiarity with the radiative properties of building materials
• Be able to solve problems involving radiation HT in enclosures and between different surfaces
• Understand the concept of linearized radiative HT coefficient
• Familiarity with the use of radiation shape factor concept and how to estimate it from charts for parallel and orthogonal planes
• Familiarity with tables listing combined convection and radiation coefficients
• Be able to solve problems involving combined convection and radiation HT
• Familiarity with effectiveness of radiant barriers in attics
• Familiarity with the concept of thermal bridges and its relevance to heat flows through building envelopes

Chapter 3: Comfort and IAQ

• Understand the basics of human comfort & health and the various factors which affect them
• Familiarity with the metabolic rates, unit of “met”, unit of “Clo“
• Be able to analyze simple cases to predict response of the human body to different environments using the thermal network model
• Familiarity with the various environmental indices for measuring comfort: direct and indirect indices
• Understanding of the concepts of mean radiant and operative temperatures
• Familiarity with the ASHRAE thermal sensation scale and the concepts of PMV and PPD
• Be able to use the standard ASHRAE chart to determine acceptable range of comfort temperature and relative humidity
• Be able to use correlations and associated charts to analyze non-standard indoor conditions
• Understanding of the applicability of the adaptive comfort model
• Familiarity with how occupant productivity and complaints rate are affected by indoor conditions
• Understanding importance of indoor air quality
• Familiarity with possible sources and effects of indoor air contaminants
• Familiarity with outdoor and indoor air quality standards
• Knowledge of different types of ventilation methods, both local and general, and how they dilute and limit contaminants
• Knowledge of the different types of air filters
• Be able to calculate ventilation requirements based on ASHRAE 62 standard
• Understanding of analysis methods involving one-zone and two-zone models of indoor spaces
• Understand concept of ventilation effectiveness
• Familiarity with sick building syndrome and responsibilities of different stakeholders

Chapter 4: Solar Radiation

• Understand the motion of the earth around the sun
• Familiarity with the basic solar angles: declination, latitude and hour angles
• Working knowledge of computing solar altitude and azimuth angles
• Working knowledge of how to compute angles of incidence on surfaces
• Familiarity with the sun-path diagram
• Working knowledge of solar time and standard time
• Understanding of the different components of solar radiation
• Working knowledge on how to use the ASHRAE clear-sky model
• Working knowledge on how to compute radiation on surfaces with arbitrary tilt and orientation using isotropic sky model
• Working knowledge on how to compute radiation on surfaces with arbitrary tilt and orientation using ASHRAE anistropic sky model
• Familiarity with how to determine long term radiation on vertical surfaces using the Potter approach

Chapter 5: Windows

• Knowledge of various issues to be considered while selecting glazing
• Familiarity with different window designs in residential and commercial buildings
• Understanding of window metrics: U-value, SHGC, glass visible transmittance, air leakage
• Familiarity with ways to model instantaneous heat gains combining incident solar radiation and conduction heat gains
• Be able to calculate overall U-values for different window designs and be familiar with the use of lookup tables
• Familiarity with spectral properties of an ideal glazing either in a cold or hot location.
• Understanding of how radiative optical properties (transmissivity, reflectivity, absorptivity) vary with solar incidence angle
• Understanding of the concept of SHGC, basic modeling equations and use of lookup tables
• Understanding of solar profile angle and be able to solve problems involving external shading devices such as window overhangs
• Familiarity with internal shading fixtures such as curtains and the concept of IAC

Chapter 6: Infiltration

• Familiarity with the three causes of pressure difference across building envelopes resulting in infiltration
• Understanding the energy implications of air infiltration
• Familiarity with different pathways/locations and types of air leakage: component perforations, openings, and background or fabric leakage
• Familiarity with the scientific background for analyzing wind and stack effects and engineering methods of estimating the associated pressure difference
• Be able to analyze situations involving wind and stack effects on buildings
• Understanding of the ELA concept and be able to use it along with the LBNL model to solve simple problems
• Be able to apply engineering models for estimating leakage through various types of envelope components
• Familiarity with multi-zone modeling methods
• Familiarity with lab testing of components and with the blower door test

Chapter 7: Steady-state Heat Flow

• Knowledge of the various heat flows affecting room temperature
• Understanding of sol-air temperature concept and how to calculate it
• Familiarity with the soil temperature model and its application
• Understanding of the ASHRAE method to calculate below grade heat losses from basements and slab-on-grade construction
• Knowledge of how to calculate internal loads from occupants, lighting and equipment
• Be able to determine total heat transmission coefficient of a building
• Be able to perform steady-state analysis of a space to evaluate relative contributions of various heat gains
• Be able to analyze heat flow interactions in unconditioned spaces
• Understanding of why interior spaces have to be zoned and common design practice

Chapter 8: Transient Analysis Methods for Building Elements

• Understand basic difference between steady state and dynamic models
• Understand instances where dynamic models are necessary
• Familiarity with different transient solution methods
• Knowledge of the finite difference method
• Understand concept of superposition of linear systems
• Be able to apply the transfer function model to analyze conduction through simple building envelop elements
• Be able to apply the conduction time series model to analyze conduction through simple building envelop elements
• Familiarity with how heat transfer through composite envelop elements can be modeled as RC networks
• Be able to apply the 1R1C network to analyze heat-up and cool-down of one-zone buildings

Chapter 9: Design Day calculations

• Understanding of importance of roper peak design analysis
• Be able to select outdoor design conditions and to determine hour-by-hour values of outdoor temperature at a location for both heating and cooling design calculations
• Working knowledge of how to calculate peak heating loads and understanding of the inherent assumptions
• Be able to calculate hourly sol-air temperatures during design calculations
• Understanding the reason why cooling load calculations are more complex than heating load calculations
• Understand the difference between heat gain, cooling load and heat extraction rates
• Understand the basis of the transfer function approach, and familiarity of the computational process
• Understand the basis of the radiant time series method and familiarity with the computational process

Chapter 10: Energy Estimation Methods

• Be familiar with the general classification of energy estimation methods and advantages of multiple measure methods over single measure methods
• Understand the basis of single measure methods, to what types of structures they are applicable and the concept of degree-day
• Be able to solve problems involving heating degree-day method and cooling degree-day method
• Familiarity with the Erbs et al. approach to generate monthly HDD for any location
• Understand the basis of the bin method and to what type of structures they are applicable
• Be able to solve problems involving the bin method
• Familiar with the Erbs et al. approach to generate monthly bin data for any location
• Understand the basis of the modified bin method and its advantage over the bin method
• Familiarity with inverse methods and their usefulness applicable
• Understand how the DD concept is used for utility bill modeling
• Familiarity with different change point model functional forms

Chapter 11: Description of HVAC Systems

• Understanding of the importance of nation-wide energy use in buildings
• Appreciation of the fact that HVAC systems on buildings can be very obtrusive
• Review of thermal comfort, building loads and ventilation calculations
• Knowledge of some of the basic components of HVAC systems
• Understanding of the several heat transfer loops needed to condition a space
• Understanding of the three different generic HVAC system types
• Knowledge of some of the generic HVAC systems and their functioning
• Knowledge of the different types of condensers
• Understanding of the three different generic classes of secondary systems
• Understanding the functioning of some all-air and air-water systems
• Familiarity with the numerous considerations dictating HVAC&R design selection

Chapter 12: Laws of Thermodynamics, Refrigeration Cycles and Heat Exchangers

• Understanding of basic thermodynamic definitions such as system, process, cycle,…
• Understanding of different states and the kinetic theory of gases
• Understanding of basic thermodynamic properties such as internal energy, enthalpy and entropy
• Understanding the difference between sensible and latent heat and be able to solve simple problems
• Understanding of how the first law is a representation of the conservation of energy concept
• Be able to apply the first law of thermodynamics to closed and open system analysis
• Familiarity with the applications and insights provided by the second law
• Familiarity with the concept of entropy
• Understanding of the boiling process of pure substances under different pressures
• Familiarity with property diagrams and different types of scales
• Be able to determine property values from steam and refrigeration tables
• Familiarity with the boiling process of binary substances and understanding of the temperature-concentration and enthalpy-concentration diagrams
• Understanding of the Carnot power, refrigeration and heat pump cycles and be able to solve problems
• Familiarity with the different types of HX and classification terminology
• Understanding the thermal network diagram of a HX
• Understanding the LMTD method of designing HX and be able to solve design problems
• Understanding of the effectiveness-NTU approach and be able to analyze HX performance

Chapter 13: Psychrometric Properties and Processes

• Knowledge of the definition and scope of psychrometrics
• Understanding of the Gibbs-Dalton’s law of partial pressures
• Understanding of the important moist air properties
• Knowledge of how to use tables and equations to determine moist air properties under different conditions
• Understanding of the relationships and correlations between certain properties
• Understanding the importance of using psychrometric charts
• Knowledge of how psychrometric Charts are generated
• Be able to use the psychrometric chart to determine individual moist air properties
• Understanding of the laws of conservation applicable to conditioning moist air streams
• Knowledge of the important air conditioning processes common in HVAC
• Be able to solve problems involving various air conditioning processes
• Be able to plot the various air conditioning processes on a psychrometric chart and solve related problems
• Understanding the concepts of coil sensible heat factor, coil dew point temperature, and by-pass factor
• Understanding the directional process changes of various air conditioning processes as plotted on a psychrometric chart

Chapter 14: Cooling Cycles, Heat Pumps and Other Cycles

• Understanding the practical limitations of the Carnot Refrigeration Cycle
• Knowledge of the Carnot cycle modifications considered in standard VC refrigeration cycles
• Knowledge of the important quantities of interest while analyzing standard VC cycles and be able to solve problems
• Knowledge of how actual VC cycles differ from standard VC cycles
• Be able to analyze practical VC cycles
• Knowledge of how changes in evaporator and condenser refrigerant temperatures affect practical VC cycle performance
• Understanding actual chiller systems and how they differ from practical VC cycles
• Knowledge of chiller performance maps and performance tables
• Understanding of the operation and various components of an absorption chiller
• Be able to solve simple problems involving absorption cycles
• Understanding of how heat pumps differ from VC cooling systems
• Understanding the functioning and components of an air-source HP
• Be able to solve problems involving selecting air source HPs for residential applications
• Familiarity with the various factors effecting efficiency of air source HPs
• Understanding the advantages offered by water source and ground source HPs and some of the system configurations
• Familiarity with the different types of AC systems for small scale applications
• Understanding the definitions of EER, SEER, and IPLV
• Familiarity with the different rating standards
• Knowledge of the different methods to model part-load performance degradation of small and medium chillers
• Be able to apply the bin method to analyze the seasonal performance of HP systems
• Knowledge of the DOE chiller model and be able to apply them to practical problems
• Understanding of the different types of considerations involved in selecting refrigerants
• Understanding of how refrigerants are classified
• Understanding of the designation system of refrigerants
• Knowledge of the desirable thermodynamic properties of various refrigerants and use of relevant tables
• Knowledge of the desirable physical and chemical properties of various refrigerants and use of relevant tables
• Understanding of the health safety categories
• Knowledge of the ozone depletion potential of refrigerants
• Knowledge of the global warming potential of refrigerants
• Understanding of the various international refrigerant phase-out efforts to mitigate environmental concerns

Chapter 15: Boilers, Furnaces and Combined Heat and Power Systems

• Knowledge of the different types of fuels
• Be able to solve problems involving chemical reactions
• Understanding of higher and lower heating values of fuels
• Understanding of different types of warm air furnaces and the functioning of their components
• Be able to solve problems involving combustion of fuels in actual furnaces
• Understanding of the importance of safety and operational controls in furnaces
• Understanding of different types of boilers and the functioning of their components
• Be able to use tables to determine boiler rating and selection
• Be able to perform simple boiler analysis from operational information
• Be able to use tables and graphs to analyze flue gas in order to deduce excess air and combustion efficiency
• Be able to perform seasonal boiler energy analysis using the bin method
• Knowledge of distributed energy systems and their various sub-systems and components
• Knowledge of the different classes of distributed generation systems
• Understanding of the energy benefits of using CHP for single and groups of buildings
• Knowledge of the different expressions for ideal power and heat generation system efficiencies
• Understanding the need for proper control of BCHP systems
• Be able to analyze benefits of BCHP against conventional separate power and heat systems
• Knowledge of the different types of BCHP technologies and their inter-comparison
• Knowledge of the different simulation software for sizing and screening for CHP systems in buildings

Chapter 16: Pumps, Fans and System Effects

• Working knowledge of the equation of motion
• Understanding the friction factor and the Moody diagram
• Familiarity with pressure drop determination in open and closed systems
• Be able to solve problems of pressure drop through straight pipe, both by using the D’arcy-Weisbach relation and by using specialized charts
• Be able to solve problems of pressure drop through fittings both by the equivalent length method and by the loss coefficient method
• Familiarity with different parts of a centrifugal pump
• Understanding notions related to pump characteristics (head, power and effy vs flow)
• Be able to compute ideal and actual pump power and efficiency
• Be able to analyze system-pump interactions and select pumps
• Understanding how pump characteristic curves vary under series/parallel
• Understanding of water piping characteristics under series/ parallel configuration
• Understanding flow control using valves and by varying speed
• Understanding of the pump affinity laws
• Be able to solve problems of friction loss from airflow in ducts using equations and charts- correction for non-circular ducts
• Knowledge of how to correct pressure drop for duct roughness, altitude and temperature
• Be able to solve problems of pressure drop in duct fittings and bends
• Familiarity with the different types of fans and their differences
• Knowledge of performance characteristic curves of fans
• Familiarity with fan laws
• Knowledge of how to analyze interaction of duct and fan interaction
• Familiarity with different ways of achieving variable air flow control
• Familiarity with good duct and fan installation practice
• Understand the concept of the pressure gradient diagram for ducts
• Knowledge of duct design considerations and the various sizing methods
• Familiarity with various air flow measuring instruments

Chapter 17: Compressors and Expansion Devices

• Understanding the importance of compressors in VC systems
• Knowledge of the different generic categories of compressor types and understanding differences between them in capacity, efficiency, part-load
• Understanding how a reciprocating chiller operates and knowledge of relevant performance measures
• Understanding how rotary, screw and scroll compressors operate
• Understanding of how centrifugal compressors operate
• Knowledge of different ways of capacity control
• Knowledge of interaction of cooling capacity and evaporator and condenser temperatures for reciprocating and centrifugal chillers
• Understanding of the purpose of expansion devices
• Understanding the operating principles of capillary and TXV
• Understanding the differences in HX classification and designs variations
• Knowledge of the different types of evaporators and their operation
• Knowledge of different types of condensers and their operation
• Be able to solve simple problems involving evaporators and condensers
• Knowledge of the different types of cooling and heating coils and their thermal performance
• Be able to solve simple problems involving coil design and performance
• Knowledge of the operation of cooling towers and related components and terminology
• Knowledge of ways to control the water side and the air-side of cooling towers
• Knowledge of different ways to model cooling tower thermal performance

Chapter 18-A_All-Water Heating and Cooling Systems, Thermal Energy Storage

• Understanding of the three generic secondary system types
• Knowledge of the three classes of hydronic systems and their applications
• Knowledge of the various hydronic distribution piping circuits
• Knowledge of the various types of hydronic terminal units
• Be able to design, select and analyze simple hydronic circuits including piping and terminal units from relevant tables
• Understanding of the various types of radiant panel types, their designs, application areas and limitations
• Be able to use cooling and heating flux plots of different types of radiant panels for design and analysis
• Understanding of hydronic system layouts in large cooling distribution systems
• Be able to calculate pressure drops in hydronic circuits for design and analysis
• Understanding the applications of two-way and three-way control valves
• Knowledge of the diurnal and seasonal variability of building loads
• Understanding of the various cost components of the electric utility rate structure and the reasons for them
• Knowledge of how to calculate utility costs which include energy and demand components
• Understanding of the benefits offered by cool thermal energy storage (CTES) to both customers and utility
• Knowledge of the different ways of sizing chillers and CTES and be able to analyze simple idealized situations
• Familiarity of the operational principle and the thermal network analogues of the ice-on-coil storage element
• Understanding the notions of chiller-priority and storage-priority and the advantages/disadvantages of both types of series configurations
• Understand the parallel chiller-CTES system configuration
• Knowledge of how the effectiveness-NTU modeling approach can be used to model actual CTES systems

Chapter 19: All Air Systems

• Understanding of the common all-air system types used for air distribution in buildings
• Understanding the operation of the basic CAV and VAV systems for single zones
• Knowledge of air stream heating across fans
• Familiarity with different configurations of CAV and VAV systems
• Be able to analyze single zone CAV with reheat, CAV without reheat, and VAV under summer and winter design conditions
• Be able to analyze the performance of CAV and VAV under part-load operation
• Understanding of the various control issues and energy efficiency benefits of using VAV system
• Knowledge of the different types and working principles of CAV multizone systems
• Be able to be analyze problems involving CAV and VAV multizone systems under peak design conditions and under part load operation
• Knowledge of the different types, operating principles and features of fan-powered VAV systems
• Familiarity with differed ways by which energy efficiency can be enhanced in all-air systems
• Be able to analyze the energy benefits of outside air economizer cycles, and heat recovery devices
• Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of all-air systems

Chapter 20: Air-Water and Hybrid Systems

• Understanding of the purpose and desirable traits of room air distribution
• Familiarity with the various design criteria to be met
• Understanding of the behavior of isothermal air jets in rooms
• Understanding of the Coanda effect
• Familiarity with the different types of air diffusion methods
• Understanding basic concepts of air jets in rooms: EDT, ADPI, and NC
• Familiarity with the design process for fully mixed air distribution systems
• Familiarity with the operating principle behind UFAD, behavior of jets, typical system designs and pros and cons
• Understanding the operating principle of displacement ventilation, behavior of supply air streams, components and pros and cons
• Knowledge of the different types of traditional air-water systems and how they differ from all-water and all-air systems
• Understanding the operational principles of the traditional air-water system types
• Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of air-water systems
• Knowledge of the two different types of chilled beams and their operational principles
• Be able to design chilled beams for rooms given manufacturer’s tables
• Understanding the unique features of DOAS and the dvnatges they provide
• Be able to design DOAS systems for simple cases
• Knowledge of different types of evaporative cooling systems and understanding their operating principle
• Knowledge of active desiccant system configurations, and understanding their operating principles
• Familiarity with VRF systems and their advantages

Chapter 24: Design for Energy Efficiency

? Understanding goal of designing energy efficient buildings
? Knowledge of the design process
? Knowledge of different types of market barriers to energy efficiency
? Be able to summarize key differences and design recommendations for residential and commercial buildings
? Knowledge of the impact of fenestration, U value, orientation and thermal mass on residential buildings
? Knowledge of the impact of fenestration, U-value and HVAC system type o annual energy use in light and heavy mass office buildings
? Knowledge of thermal and photovoltaic solar energy technologies
? Understanding of passive building concepts and design elements
? Understanding of benefits provided by building energy simulation programs
? Knowledge of uncertainties in building energy simulations and reasons for difference between measured and simulated energy data
? Understanding of the importance of building energy and different U.S. initiatives and labs working in this area
? Knowledge of energy benchmarking and rating methods
? Understanding the importance and structure of building energy codes and standards
? Understanding how detailed simulations of certain building prototypes support building energy code development
? Understanding of ongoing work on green buildings by several organizations