Smart Building Technology Education
Smart building technologies are a new suite of resources that improve building energy efficiency and resilience, reduce carbon emissions, and provide load flexibility to the grid.
However, in both college curricula and building professionals' continuing education, there is a lack of systematic instruction on smart building technologies–topics that include smart building concepts, key components, smart building controls, "Internet of Things" (IoT) devices, and how to integrate multiple energy systems including distributed energy resources (DER). This major gap in smart building education prevents stakeholders from understanding and adopting smart building technologies in building design and operations.
Slipstream led a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and in partnership with Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, Society of Building Science Educators, and National Institute of Building Sciences, to develop a semester-long smart building curriculum for college students and adapted the content into 16 training videos for building professionals and the general public.
About the training
This free training content includes 16 in-depth sessions targeting building professionals (videos range in timing from around 35 minutes to a little over an hour). The education and training cover the drivers and benefits of smart building technologies, key building energy systems, the latest sensor technologies and IoT devices, and focus on topics related to smart building controls (i.e., energy management information systems, smart building control platforms, cybersecurity, grid-interactive-efficient buildings (GEBs), smart building control methods, and occupant-centric control.
Attendees can pick and choose modules to complete based on their interests; if all are finished, they can earn around 14 hours of continuing education credit.
Session topics
| Topic category | Session # | Session name |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | 1 | Introduction to smart building technologies |
| Building systems | 2 | Building HVAC - basic systems |
| 3 | Building HVAC - complex systems, Building Automation System | |
| 4 | Networked lighting controls and HVAC integration | |
| 5 | Solar PV, BESS, and EV charging | |
| 6 | Smart window, automated shades, thermal energy storage, phase change material, and plug loads | |
| Sensors and IOT Devices | 7 | Sensors |
| 8 | IOT devices and example building applications | |
| Smart building controls | 9 | Advanced building monitoring and controls |
| 10 | Smart building control platform | |
| 11 | Smart building control platform cybersecurity | |
| 12 | Smart building control methods | |
| 13 | Occupant-centric control | |
| Smart building applications | 14 | Grid-interactive efficient buildings and Connected Communities |
| 15 | Review of whole-building simulation programs | |
| 16 | Smart building application examples |
Who should view this series?
- Building professionals
- Smart building software developers
- General public
This work is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under Award # DE-EE0009703. Funding came from the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.