Sustainable Buildings This course presents the sustainable buildings checklist with an emphasis on the major benefits and approaches to green and sustainable building design and construction. The course materials were developed by a countywide committee consisting of city planning and permitting staff, city recycling staff, local architects, nonprofit representatives, and builders. Many items on the…
Small Urban Watershed Restoration Urban watershed restoration has recently evolved into a growing and sophisticated practice. This course introduces the basic concepts and techniques of urban watershed restoration, and sets forth the overall framework we use to evaluate subwatershed restoration potential. It presents the basic concepts used to restore urban streams, and outlines an integrated…
Enhanced Geothermal Systems Creation and Production An Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) is a man-made reservoir, created where there is hot rock but insufficient or little natural permeability or fluid saturation. In an EGS, fluid is injected into the subsurface under carefully controlled conditions, which cause pre-existing fractures to re-open, creating permeability. Increased permeability allows fluid…
Enhanced Geothermal Systems – Imaging and Characterization Conventional geothermal extraction depends on naturally occurring waters bringing heat from Earth’s interior to the surface. Where available, these conventional geothermal resources provide an attractive base-load power source that can be economically competitive without subsidies. Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) refer to methods of harvesting energy from the Earth’s…
An Introduction to Conservation Design Conservation design is a density neutral design system that takes into account the natural landscape and ecology of a development site and facilitates development while maintaining the most valuable natural features and functions of the site. Conservation design focuses on the grouping of building sites thereby allowing for the preservation…
Building Energy Codes The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) supports and participates in the model building energy code development processes administered by the ASHRAE and the International Code Council. This course reviews the code adaptation process of these agencies and presents the impact that these codes have on building design and construction practices. This Building…