Heating and Cooling of Buildings

Book excerpt: The art and the science of building systems design evolve continuously as designers, practitioners, and researchers all endeavor to improve the performance of buildings and the comfort and productivity of their occupants. Retaining coverage from the original second edition while updating the information in electronic form, Heating and Cooling of Buildings: Design for Efficiency, Revised Second Edition presents the technical basis for designing the lighting and mechanical systems of buildings. Along with numerous homework problems, the revised second edition offers a full chapter on economic analysis and optimization, new heating and cooling load procedures and databases, and simplified procedures for ground coupled heat transfer calculations. The accompanying CD-ROM contains an updated version of the Heating and Cooling of Buildings (HCB) software program as well as electronic appendices that include over 1,000 tables in HTML format that can be searched by major categories, a table list, or an index of topics. Ancillary information is available on the book’s website www.hcbcentral.com From materials to computers, this edition explores the latest technologies exerting a profound effect on the design and operation of buildings. Emphasizing design optimization and critical thinking, the book continues to be the ultimate resource for understanding energy use in buildings.