Building Energy Modelling Fundamentals

This course topic presents an overview of important principles and elements in Building Energy Modelling (BEM), focussing on how building design and building elements affect heat transfer and thermodynamics in the building.

It covers aspects like shading and orientation, adjacency to ground vs ambient air, heat capacity (thermal mass/thermal storage), types of glazing build-ups and their characteristics, insulation materials and a basic overview of HVAC systems.

DesignBuilder Software is used to demonstrate/explore these aspects, but for this module, the focus is on the fundamental principles rather than the specific modelling software. The other training modules focus on the latter.