- Environmental Control Systems I Units: 3

Catalog description

This course introduces foundational concepts in environmental control with an emphasis on passive design strategies that optimize thermal comfort, energy efficiency, and climate-responsive architecture. Students will investigate techniques such as passive heating, solar gain and rejection, shading, natural cooling, and thermal envelope performance. The curriculum emphasizes site analysis, building orientation, landscape integration, and retrofitting approaches to enhance energy efficiency and support sustainability goals, including net-zero performance. Through lectures, discussions, case studies, and research projects, students will develop skills to analyze and evaluate passive design strategies that minimize energy consumption while improving indoor environmental quality.