Energy-Efficient Housing

Overview of topics by lesson: 1) heat transfer, especially solar water heaters and swamp coolers, 2) electrical circuits, including designing a thermostat, 3) lighting, especially daylighting and greenhouses, 4) renewable and non-renewable energy sources, especially water and wind power, and 5) passive solar design, especially for heating.

Engineers are the creative people who are always coming up with ingenious and better ways to provide us with reliable and energy-efficient shelter. Energy-efficiency means performing some task so it uses the least amount of energy possible. Using energy wisely might involve conserving and minimizing the initial energy required to create an engineered product or system, and/or designing its ongoing energy use to be as minimal as possible and/or use renewable energy sources. Engineers design energy-efficient technologies for buildings, homes, transportation, power systems and industry to reduce consumption and expense of our energy resources.