ENRG 52: Energy & Building Science Fundamentals

Program Description:

The Commercial Building Energy Analysis and Audits program at City College of San Francisco prepares students to conduct energy audits, evaluate building systems for efficiency, analyze energy data, and apply financial and business strategies in audit reporting. The program is divided into 15 modular courses designed for a community college level student. These courses are adaptable and can be selected, reorganized, or offered in a shorter format to suit individuals with experience in construction, architecture, HVAC, building operations, or mechanical engineering.

Course Description:

This course, from the BEST Center and City College of San Francisco, focuses on the fundamental concepts for understanding energy use in commercial buildings. During the course, students examine topics such as the principles of energy, heat transfer, measurement and unit conversion, phase change, psychrometrics, balance point, emissivity, delta flows, solar geometry, and energy efficiency improvement strategies. In completing the course, students will be able to:

• Summarize the basic concepts of energy, including the first and second laws of thermodynamics, work, and power,
• Measure electricity, heat, pressure, and light, and calculate unit conversions to determine energy use in buildings over time,
• Analyze environmental conditions using the psychrometric chart and processes, and relate observations of variances in the environment to energy use in buildings,
• Describe and compare energy concepts including heat transfer, change of state or phase change, balance point, emissivity, and delta flows, and
• Describe concepts of solar geometry and relate them to building science.

Course Contents:

Course resources include a course outline, and four PowerPoint presentations. The presentations are included in .pptx and .pdf format. The course outline is available in .docx and .pdf format.

The 4-page course outline includes a course description, learning outcomes, and a detailed course topics outline. Topics include: an introduction, concepts and principles of energy, heat transfer, change of state (phase change), psychrometrics theory and applications, and quantifying characteristics. 

The PowerPoint presentations introduce foundational concepts for energy auditors. Topics include the importance of understanding energy and building science, key environmental and energy terms, measurement tools, energy principles such as heat transfer and phase changes, interpreting psychrometric charts and processes, and the concepts of balance point and emissivity.

For orientation purposes, viewers should begin with ENRG 52_Course Outline_cc.pdf, which offers a description of the course as well as an overview of topics covered through a course outline.

Below is a list of the files contained within the .zip attachment. The size of each file is included in parenthesis.

ENRG-52-Energy-Bldg-Sci (11 files, 15MB)

• An Introduction to Fundamentals of Lighting (EnergyBuildingScienceFundamentals A v1.pdf 1 MB)
• An Introduction to Fundamentals of Lighting (EnergyBuildingScienceFundamentals A v1.pptx 1.1 MB)
• Lighting Systems B-E (EnergyBuildingScienceFundamentals B C D E v1.pdf 1.2 MB)
• Lighting Systems B-E (EnergyBuildingScienceFundamentals B C D E v1.pptx 677 KB)
• Lighting Systems F-G (EnergyBuildingScienceFundamentals F G v1.pdf 3.8 MB)
• Lighting Systems F-G (EnergyBuildingScienceFundamentals F G v1.pptx 3.3 MB)
• Lighting Systems H-J (EnergyBuildingScienceFundamentals H I J v1.pdf 932 KB)
• Lighting Systems H-J  (EnergyBuildingScienceFundamentals H I J v1.pptx 2.6 MB)
• Course Outline (ENRG 52_Course Outline.docx 23 KB)
• Course Outline (ENRG 52_Course Outline.pdf 359 KB)