Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Fundamentals of Building Energy Dynamics assesses how and why buildings use energy, and how energy use and peak demand can be reduced. It provides a basis for integrating energy efficiency and solar approaches in ways that will allow building owners and designers to balance the need to minimize initial costs, operating costs, and life-cycle costs with need to maintain reliable building operations and enhance environmental quality both inside and outside the building. Chapters trace the development of building energy systems and analyze the demand side of solar applications as a means for determining what portion of a building's energy requirements can potentially be met by solar energy.

Following the introduction, the book provides an overview of energy usepatterns in the aggregate U.S. building population. Chapter 3 surveys work onthe energy flows in an individual building and shows how these flows interact to influence overall energy use. Chapter 4 presents the analytical methods, techniques, and tools developed to calculate and analyze energy use in buildings, while chapter 5 provides an extensive survey of the energy conservation and management strategies developed in the post-energy crisis period.

The approach taken is a commonsensical one, starting with the proposition that the purpose of buildings is to house human activities, and that conservation measures that negatively affect such activities are based on false economies. The goal is to determine rational strategies for the design of new buildings, and the retrofit of existing buildings to bring them up to modern standards of energy use. The energy flows examined are both large scale (heating systems) and small scale (choices among appliances). Solar Heat Technologies: Fundamentals and Applications, Volume 4

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this very useful but, unfortunately, very dense treatment, buildings are characterized as major users of energy, an expensive and environmentally sensitive commodity. Buildings are designed to enclose practically every activity of humankind, and numerous competing criteria are involved: function, cost, beauty, and many others. This volume deals primarily with energy cost. A quote gives a thumbnail insight into design problems: "... [buildings must] keep rain out, let daylight in, keep cold and hot air out, let tepid air in, let water vapor out, keep heat in, provide visual and acoustical privacy, have structural integrity--and do it all in a six inch assembly." Further, the building must be built quickly and at minimum cost, using state-of-the-art techniques and materials. Finally, the entire picture is affected by the fact that buildings, once built, tend to last, sometimes for centuries, and the operational costs over the years may be far greater than the first cost. The authors are experts, and the book explains research conducted in the '70s and '80s by the US Department of Energy. Chapters are devoted to energy use in buildings, patterns of energy use, characterization of building energy processes, energy analysis, and lastly, energy conservation and management strategies. Extensive chapter bibliographies; graphs and tables. Recommended. Graduates through professionals. J. C. Comer emeritus, Northern Illinois University