301
Fundamentals of Green Building
Design and Construction
Class Syllabus
Introduction
Learning Objectives
Class Organization and Grading
Grading Policies
The Textbook
Introduction
The purpose of this course is to give the student an overview of design
and construction delivery systems for high performance green
buildings. We will look at the US Green Building Council (USGBC)
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in some detail.
Sustainability evaluation systems will be reviewed. This course will
focus on LEED-NC (new construction) requirements.
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Learning objectives:
By the end of this class you should:
- Understand the concept of high performance green buildings and
sustainablity.
- Become familiar with the vocabulary associated with green buildings..
- Understand the physical limitations of the materials we are studying.
- Become familiar with USGBC's LEED-NC suite of standards.
- Know about the charrette process and the design process for
high-performance buildings.
- Understand the concepts of sustainable landscapes and high-performance
building energy design.
- Learn about the selection of mechanical and electrical lighting
systems..
- Learn about green building water supply and waste water supply
strategies.
- Become familiar with the issues in selecting green building materials.
- Become familiar with indoor environmental quality factors.
- Learn how to reduce the ecological footprint of construction
operations.
- Become familiar with green building commissioning.
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Class Organization and Grading
The following table lists the learning modules, the maximum value in points a student
can receive within each module, and the time in which the modules must be finished.
Module |
Point Value |
By End of Week |
| 0. Student Orientation |
0 |
Before start |
| 1. Introduction To Green Buildings |
25 |
1 |
| 2. Impacts of building construction, operation and
disposal |
25 |
2 |
| 3. The green building process and assessment |
25 |
3 |
| 4. Ecological design |
25 |
4 |
| 5. Sustainable sites and landscaping |
25 |
5 |
| 6. Creating a low energy profile |
25 |
6 |
| 7. The building hydrologic system |
25 |
7 |
| 8. Material loops and Indoor environmental quality |
25 |
8 |
| 9. Construction Operations and Building Commissioning |
25 |
9 |
| 10. Economic issues and future directions in green
building. |
25 |
10 |
| Total Points |
250 |
|
It is important that the student keep up with the class and not fall
behind. Course modules will be made available to students on Sunday of each
week. Class work must be completed before the following Monday. Students will
not be able to work ahead of the class although reading assignments will be made available
in advance. Actual dates that modules will become available will be posted in
advance on the course calendar.
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Grading Policies
Graded assignments will consist of one quiz for each module and participation in at
least two class discussions. Each quiz will count 10 points and class discussions
will count 15 points per module. You can see that I consider class discussions to be
a very important part of this course. For that reason, the regular weekly
discussions are even more important than the weekly quizzes. Students
should provide at least 4 on-topic contributions to the class discussions each week
to gain the maximum points.
Grades will be posted on a weekly basis. You will have full access to your grade
sheet so you will be able to keep track of how you are doing at all times.
Your overall grade in the course will be determined by the total number of
points you have accumulated on quizzes and assignments. The grading scale is
as follows:
You will be given more information about the grading and other course matters in the
Orientation Module.
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The Textbook
You can find detailed textbook information at http://www.constructionclasses.com/textbooks.htm#sus
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