Building energy design is now a primary driver of overall building design. Understanding building energy physics is now essential for all design team members. Aims and objectives: Train students how to design and model energy-efficient buildings; Equip students with the knowledge required to quantify the energy-efficiency of preliminary designs and propose building and material design modifications; predict thermal performance within building zones; understand how building design, occupancy and use interacts with thermal energy systems, solar irradiance and weather conditions as well as their effect on human comfort and energy consumption.

Building design and energy use: historical trends, current status and future trends Building energy policy at national and EU level; factors affecting human comfort; Steady-state and transient thermal physics of buildings; heat transfer mechanisms; performance metrics; typical metric values for building including exemplar low-energy and passive builds; design related and environmental performance drivers - overall form, aspect ratio, surface-to-volume ratio, percentage glazing, orientation, site context, solar irradiance, prevailing winds, shelter, design features including insulation, solar shading, low-e coatings, automated shading and ventilation. Overview of strategies for modelling building thermal physics; thermal resistance networks; lumped capacitance; steady-state vs. transient; dimensionless scaling parameters and empirical correlations; compiling input data - building fabric, thermal mass, weather data, building use, active, passive and mixed mode ventilation, thermal sources, heating & cooling systems, control strategies and feedback. Design thermal model, build and digitise model, configure inputs, configure outputs, solve and interpret outputs; describe scope and limitations of model; suggest modifications to enhance energy usage, update model, analyse response and appreciate cost benefit of improvements.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to: Describe methods of reducing energy consumption in buildings and their effect on human comfort Discuss national and EU building energy policies and identify energy performance metrics Identify factors affecting steady-state and transient heat transfer in buildings Understand and apply thermal resistance networks both with and without lumped capacitances Evaluate convective heat transfer coefficients using empirical correlations Evaluate thermal resistances and thermal impedances of building components based on their properties Describe and explain techniques for modelling building thermal physics Design, build and test digitized models using software and interpret resulting data Analyse the effect of varying input conditions on model outputs and suggest changes to enhance efficiency.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to: Demonstrate an appreciation for the need to increase energy efficiency in buildings Discuss the need for smarter more efficient designs that will lead to reduced energy consumption Display a professional commitment to developing energy efficiency designs

On successful completion of this module students will be able to: Sketch thermal resistance networks illustrating heat flow paths and thermal storage mechanisms in buildings.