The Passive Comfort Laboratory (PC-Lab) addresses the fundamental aspect of building envelope optimization in the context of the energy efficiency of buildings. The building envelope plays a substantial role in determining the energy required for space conditioning. In the first half of the semester, students get introduced to a variety of topics in building physics which are essential for understanding the energy interaction of the building envelope with indoor and outdoor environments. These include climate analysis, shading analysis, heat transfer, moisture transfer, load calculations, psychrometry, etc. Simultaneously, students also learn to measure environmental variables and evaluate conditions for human thermal comfort. Additionally, students apply concepts in building physics to carry out a course project where they measure and quantify the thermal performance in relevant metrics. Finally, in the simulation module, students learn to geometrically model and simulate buildings at the envelope level with schedules for occupancy and equipment.
