You already have learned the basics of how to estimate the energy demand in buildings, which will already be helpful in understanding design strategies and policies. You have learned how to calculate nominal powers and how they relate to the cost of the equipment. This will help you to make more in depth and thought-through decisions when it comes to choosing which equipment is the most suitable for your design and your wallet.

Last but not least, you have learned how you can optimize a building design in order to reduce the energy demand for heating, cooling and electricity. You have done this using newly learned skills within an Excel model. What is more, you have learned the limitations of this approach, which makes you a critical thinker and designer.

In this last section, we provide you with some useful, follow-up courses that you can study to find out more about other aspects of sustainable building design.

Follow-up courses

MOOC 2: Energy Supply Systems for Buildings, in which you will gain knowledge on energy supply systems in order to determine annual energy costs, use of primary resources and CO2-emissions.

MOOC 3: Comfort and Health in Buildings, in which you will discover the two main theories of thermal comfort, learning which measurable physical parameters and combinations of parameters impact people’s comfort. You will understand why it is so difficult to create indoor environments satisfying everyone, and which main parameters to tune to make buildings comfortable. You will also discover how to measure, analyze and solve existing comfort complaints, and finally you will find out what determines a healthy indoor air quality.

MOOC 4: Efficient HVAC Systems, in which we will discuss topics like humidification and dehumidification in relation to energy demand.

MOOC 5: Dynamic Energy Modeling: Thermal Simulations, in which you will learn how to cope with the dynamics of energy transfer relating to storage of heat in the construction.