Educang the Educator

Dr John Straube, P.Eng. University of Waterloo Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering / School of Outline

• What is Building • Skill and Knowledge Sets • Faculty Needs My Bias

• educaon in Canada – PhD supervisor: Eric Burne reinvented as building scienst • Teaching Building Science 18 yrs • Faculty of School of Architecture 15 yrs • Building Science Consultant 20 yrs • German construcon experience What is Building Science

• No accepted definion! – heat and mass transport physics, – construcon technology – material science, – meteorology, mycology, sociology, etc. etc. – urban design, architecture (technical aspects), • But, should not be same as well-defined disciplines, not rebranding, new knowledge Building science /building engineering

• “fields of study concerned with the technical performance of buildings, building materials, and building systems.” • Canadian view came out of harsh climate, government guidance, and post-war building boom Building Science

• Skills required are similar to some engineering disciplines – Quantave analysis (math & physics) – Engineering Design – , fluid mechanics, material science Some Skills (adapted from BETEC/NIBS)

• Understanding competency in building physics – Including , energy, fluid • Understand construcon techniques, technologies, materials, processes • Ability to esmate future – Via a range of tools • Ability to read and design enclosure assemblies and details (draing?) • Understand HVAC interacons • Knowledge of tesng and Measurement of performance Modeling

• Defining a discipline by its ability to model is dangerous • “A structural engineer must be able to operate finite element models”? • Building design professional should use the tools best suited, this may be a model, or maybe not • Most current modelers do not know the basic physics and real boundary condions Not Building Science

Disciplines already designated • Project/construcon management The • Disciplines HVAC or Lighng design not the • Structural / Foundaon Engineering Knowledge sets • Architecture • Energy analyst • Computer modelers

many building sciensts need some of all of the above Not Building Science

• Not just skills required for – high performance buildings – Energy efficient buildings – Housing – Commissioning • Specific applicaons are just that. • BS knowledge can/should be applied to all types of building, new, retrofit, alternave, large, small Why Building Science

• Lost skills (important, but not the biggest) • Increased project complexity • New & different materials & systems • New and increased performance demands • Increased demand for predictability/reliability Quesons it can answer

• “what rain control strategy should this walls use” • “will this insulaon product perform as expected in this wall” • “will a cause damaging condensaon in this enclosure” • “How do I make a more energy-efficient window that remains durable” • “Can precast concrete be an ” • “why did mold grow in this closet” • “Should I venlate this crawlspace” • “why is the winter RH low in this classroom” “The Canadian School”

• Waterloo, Toronto, Ryerson, Concordia, BCIT, Algonquin, Humber, George Brown • Energy & moisture technical focus • Condensaon, psychrometrics, rain, mold – Energy efficiency – Building as a system – Funconality Berkeley / Architecture

• Indoor Environment & Energy – Day light, lighng – Passive Solar • Not much psychrometrics, condensaon, rain control, insulaon Architectural Engineering

• 17 Schools in the US • Range of focus – Structures – Mechanical/Electrical systems – Project management • Not energy, moisture, etc “European School”

• Building Physics label – Heat / energy – Moisture – Light – Fire – Sound • Well formulated programs, oen code based • Courses offered by dozens of schools Architecture Programs

• Most programs not quantave, predicve, performance based • Building technology taught widely – What info is taught • Smaering of “dewpoint”, air barriers, thermal Building Science

• Not really science • Applied Science / Engineering – Technical problem solving & Design • Technical Knowledge Area – Mass & energy storage and flow is core physics – Math, basic chemistry, physics – Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, – Real World constraints Building Science

• Likely impossible to define one specialist – Fire/Life safety very different than energy – Moisture may be connected to insulaon • Many people in the construcon industry need some building science • Few building science specialists needed Real World

• In my opinion: a key differenator of North American Building Science • Does caulking fail? • Can we specify airghtness and get it? • How to idenfy construcon site problems • Integraon of teaching and research with actual on-site problems, forensics What kind of outcomes?

• Building Science specialists – Focus several years of educaon + experience • Other disciplines – a “course or two” to increase awareness • Is there a mix? • How much me does it take? • Commercial or residenal? • Enclosure or MEP systems? Employers

• Consultants / Commissioners • Support /engineers • Product manufacturers • Builders ? • Owners? • Etc? How to expand?

1. Schools support the discipline

2. Then, hire faculty But where do we 3. Students apply get faculty? 4. Faculty delivers educaon 5. Industry hires graduates Normal Process

• Schools, even colleges, want faculty w/ Ph.D.s • Exisng faculty produce graduate Ph.D.s • There are very few exisng faculty in building science • Hence, very few graduates • Result – we “repurpose” structural engineers, mechanical engineers, technical architects Faculty

• Established program: faculty start aer 8-10 years of study (structural, mechanical, etc) • Building Science: new faculty oen have 1 or 2 courses • Emphasis on research / PhD makes praccal experience difficult to aain for new faculty – Not a “professional” faculty Educate the Educator

• To accelerate deployment AND ensure quality Core knowledge from a few needs to be quickly disseminated to many • Peer-to-peer learning, not teacher-student • Normal academic system does not support this Educate the Educator

• Building physics can be taught formally • Context of real world is difficult • Avoiding silo’s in faculty (IAQ specialist, enclosure specialist, energy specialist) and programs • An accepted definion of knowledge sets and quesons to be answered would be very useful to guide programs/schools What is the need?

• Specialists? (Building sciensts, consultants) • Broader awareness? (one, two courses) • Both? • What should the focus be? – Energy? Mosture, Durability? – IAQ? Lighng? Fire? – Etc. Summary

• Much more review of current state needed • With current flux, cerficaon is premature • We can define it how we like • But … market needs will adopt or ignore definion depending on how good it is Appendix

University of Waterloo Building Science Offerings

• A full building science course focusing on durability, health, and energy, with case studies of failures is offered to both undergraduate architecture (required Arch 364, 3rd year course) and engineering (elecve CivE 507 4th year course). The engineering course is more quantave, teaching the underlying physics, and calculaon methods to predict heat flow, solar gain, thermal bridges, airflow and its moisture and energy impacts. The architecture course is based on basic principles of design, and applies the principles of water, air, heat and vapor control layer connuity to numerous common building assemblies in both low- rise residenal and high-rise commercial, and introduces the interacons of the enclosure, mechanical heang, cooling and venlaon systems, lighng, and structural systems. • Three energy-related courses are offered to both graduate and undergraduate engineers in both civil and . The first focuses on low- energy building systems (ME599), the second on building energy performance (CIVE497), and the third (ME452) covers thermodynamics of moist air, mechanical system calculaons, comfort. • In the graduate stream, engineers are offered a course in advanced building science (CivE707) and energy/ hygrothermal modeling (CivE708). Architects have a graduate course in building science (Arch 673) that invesgates the principles in greater depth, discuss more advanced concepts and professional issues of coordinaon, responsibility, specificaons, mockups, along with an introducon to mechanical systems for low energy buildings. • CivE 507 Building Science. Heat, air, and moisture storage and transport. Enclosure design: walls, windows, roof Loadings: gravity, wind, thermal, rain, vapor, groundwater, fire. Energy and durability related consideraons are a focus. • ME 599 Special Topics : “Low-Energy Building Systems” • Basic energy calculaons for mechanical and electrical building equipment, including HVAC, water heang, and lighng. High efficiency heang and cooling equipment. Air- and water-source heat pumps. Heat recovery systems. Design for efficient operaon at part-load. Potable water conservaon. Aspects of commissioning and operaon. Consideraons for integraon of future energy sources, including solar, cogeneraon, and ground source heat pumps. • CIV E 497 Special Topics “Building Energy Performance” • Overview of energy use in buildings, including technical, economic, and environmental aspects; whole-building energy simulaon soware tools; energy simulaon as part of an integrated design process; building energy codes; measurement of actual energy use; energy use benchmarking; aspects of building energy management systems, commissioning, and energy auding. • ME452 Energy Transfer in Buildings. Thermodynamic properes of moist air; psychrometric charts; measurements; direct water contact processes; heang and cooling of moist air by extended surface coils; solar radiaon; heang and cooling loads on buildings; effects of the thermal environment; air condioning calculaons. • CE708 Advanced Building Science. This course deals in depth with the physics of heat and air flow, moisture storage and transport, and psychrometrics. Through the use of worked examples, these principles are applied to the analysis of typical building enclosure systems. Basic concepts are developed for the design of building details that are effecve in the control of heat, air, vapour, rain, and that accommodate building movements. Various case studies of problems and soluons will be used. • CE708 Building Physics and Modeling. This course covers methodologies for the quantave predicon of building enclosure and building system performance. Issues considered include heat conducon, radiaon, and convecon; air flow through cracks, openings, vents, and porous media; and moisture transport by diffusion, convecon, capillary acon, adsorbed flow and osmosis. Students are introduced to research-quality formulaons, commercial models, and simplified methods for both energy (Therm, DOE2.1, Eplus, HOT3000, etc) and hygrothermal models (WUFI, CONTAM). Arch 364 Building Science. Principles of sing, shape, orientaon and enclosure construcon technology are reviewed. The technical factors that influence good design for good technical performance (durability, health, energy efficiency), & sustainability of buildings are studied. The physical principles of good building science developed will be applied to create funconal, aracve, efficient, sustainable and economical building details, secons, etc. Calculaon of heat flow, R-values, condensaon predicon will be presented. Common building design/construcon problems that result in poor performance, expensive repairs, ligaon, etc., their causes, and their soluons will be explored through studies of famous, infamous, and vernacular building materials, details, secons, etc The bulk of the course will focus on typical praccal enclosure design strategies but HVAC and lighng will also be discussed. Arch 673 Building Science. This course provides an advanced study of the as the place where design, technology, building science, and environmental concerns converge. It discusses maers such as natural light and venlaon or the short- and long-term behaviours of building materials, and assesses the use of new generaons of "smart" mechanical environmental devices. The course advances beyond Arch 364 in depth and scope. Its focus is on the praccal tehnical needs of the , i.e., the design, rehabilitaon, construcon and operaonal aspects of the building enclosure -- walls, windows, roofs, foundaons etc. Iteracons of the enclosure and environmental systems (lighng, venlaon, HVAC) will be covered as needed to allow for the assessment of the building as a system.