Net-Zero Building Fundamentals

Interested in decarbonisation, high performance, and climate resilient buildings? Then this course is for you. Our future is low-carbon, net-zero buildings that are super-efficient and self-sufficient in terms of their energy and water use. Decarbonisation, digitisation, and deglobalisation are driving the infrastructure revolution over the next 20 years. This course, offered jointly by the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), will enable you to reap the benefits of this revolution and work on climate change. You will learn the fundamentals of passive comfort, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and low carbon and resilient design. These fundamentals include building science, design, engineering, and finance. Learn these to work on high performance building design, with evidence-based design process. These fundamentals will equip you to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary team. There are 11 modules: energy performance, heat transfer for the building envelope, passive design, thermal comfort and indoor air quality, natural ventilation, load calculation for right-sizing HVAC systems, HVAC system types and low-energy cooling, cost estimation and financial feasibility, water sufficiency, resilient design, and embodied carbon. Enrol in this course and arm yourself to lead the global infrastructure transition.

• Course Introduction
• Welcome to the course, Net-Zero Building Fundamentals. Mr. Prasad Vaidya, the lead instructor of this course, who is also the Director of Solar Decathlon India (SDI) and Advisor for the Sustainable Energy Lab at IIHS, introduces you to this course in the video below. We hope you will learn from this course and also enjoy the animated videos.
• Energy Performance of your Building
• The module will help to understand the concept of net-zero-energy buildings, how buildings use energy, and the typical range of energy performance of residential and commercial buildings. You will understand how energy performance of buildings is measured and how buildings can be made super energy efficient. You will also get an introduction to renewable energy technologies. You will understand the importance of building energy simulation studies and why we use them during design.
• Heat Transfer and your Building Envelope
• This module will explain why heat transfer through the envelope is important to consider in building design. The modes of heat transfer will be discussed, and you will understand how to identify heat gain/loss sources in the building envelope and learn to quantify the heat gains/losses through the building envelope. You will also understand design decisions that impact the envelope heat gain/loss such as orientation, sizes of surfaces, and choice of materials. In addition, you will learn what U-value and SHGC are, and the values of some typical materials.
• Passive Design and Shading
• Through this module, you will understand the definition of passive design and its importance for net-zero energy and resilience. You will understand the 3-tier pyramid approach and the importance of the first 2 tiers, and also learn about the natural sources and sinks for passive heating and cooling. The module will discuss passive solar heating strategies, passive cooling strategies, and solar movement and shading.
• Thermal Comfort, IAQ, Ventilation for Occupants
• This module will discuss the definition of Thermal Comfort, its benefits, and biological and behavioural adaptations. You will get an introduction to the parameters of Thermal Comfort, the variation in preferences across seasons, locations, and cultures. The module will also introduce you to the Adaptive Thermal Comfort model. Further, you will learn to identify sources of pollutants and understand the need for good indoor air quality and the ventilation needs according to the National Building Code of India.
• Natural Ventilation
• This module will help you understand how natural ventilation provides thermal comfort and improves Indoor Air Quality. The module will explain how Operative Temperature is affected by air movement, and the magnitude of the indoor air speeds and outdoor wind speeds. The driving forces for Natural Ventilation and some simple calculations for sizing openings will also be discussed. You will also get introduced to tools for evaluating ventilation effectiveness, and some design strategies for Natural Ventilation.
• Designing Rightsized HVAC with Load Calculations
• This module will discuss envelope and internal loads and strategies to reduce loads. It will deep dive into the different approaches to HVAC load estimation, and how systems can be sized correctly using precise information of your building design. You will get introduced to load calculation using an excel tool, and also see how the size and cost of the HVAC system can be reduced.
• Water Sufficiency
• This module will discuss the need for creating an abundance of local water resources, end-uses of water, standards for water provision, and water quality requirements for different end-uses. You will get introduced to the concept of net-zero-water for a building and learn about by reducing consumption and creating a closed water cycle on-site. You will also get an introduction to water cycle calculations.
• Mechanical HVAC and LEC systems
• This module will explain the use of HVAC systems and the projected growth of cooling energy. It will explain the basic refrigeration cycle and its modification in different types of mechanical cooling systems. You will get an introduction to the basics of radiant cooling and air distribution cooling systems, and explore Low Energy Cooling (LEC) systems such as radiant cooling, evaporative cooling, and heat pumps for heating as well as cooling. You will also learn about some common Energy Conservation Measures for cooling systems.
• Cost Estimation and Affordability
• Through this module, you will understand the expectations of returns by owners or developers from their buildings, the different cost components of CAPEX and OPEX, and the levels of cost estimates and their purpose at specific stages of a project. You will also learn about three approaches to Affordability and Financial Feasibility, and Lifecycle Cost Estimation of a building.
• Resilient Design
• This module will discuss the concept of resilience and its importance for the built environment, different types of hazards and their impacts. The following questions will also be discussed: What makes buildings and communities resilient?What are the principles of resilient design?What are the resilience metrics for a building?
• Embodied Carbon
• Through this module, you will understand the impact of building materials and construction on carbon emissions. It will help you identify the stages in the lifecycle of a building and the scope of emissions from these stages. You will learn the basic concepts of emissions factors and data sources available for calculating embodied emissions. The module will also teach you to identify strategies for the reduction of embodied carbon in buildings.
• Conclusion