This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

Fundamentals of Energy in Buildings

As taught in: Fall 2008

Photograph of sunlight reflecting off a high-rise building.

Sunlight reflecting off the Empire State Building. (Photograph courtesy of swisscan on Flickr.)

Instructors:

Prof. Leon Glicksman

MIT Course Number:

4.42J / 1.044J / 2.66J

Level:

Undergraduate

Course Features

Course Description

This subject provides a first course in thermo-sciences for students primarily interested in architecture and building technology. It introduces the fundamentals important to energy, ventilation, air conditioning and comfort in buildings. It includes a detailed treatment of different forms of energy, energy conservation, properties of gases and liquids, air-water vapor mixtures and performance limits for air conditioning and power producing systems. Heat transfer principles are introduced with applications to energy losses from a building envelope. The subject is a prerequisite for more advanced thermo-science subjects in Architecture and Mechanical Engineering.