Section outline

    • Part 1 - Home Energy Assessment

      Before our first lesson, you will complete a short home energy assessment.

      This activity will help you start thinking about how buildings maintain temperature, how energy is used in homes, and how housing conditions affect comfort and energy consumption.

      This activity should take approximately 45 minutes.

      You will observe your home, think about building materials, air movement, insulation, and energy use.

      This activity is not a test. It is an observation and reflection activity to prepare for the course.

      Next step:

      Please click on “Instructions - Home Observation” below and follow the activity instructions.

      After completing the observation, submit your work in the Assignment: Home Energy Assessment

    • Instructions - Home Observation Page
    • Assignment: Home Energy Assessment
      Opened: Thursday, 26 March 2026, 12:00 AM
      Home Energy Assessment Submission

      Building science is a super power which allows you to see the invisible and see different…in buildings. The scientific approach is different from the everyday or “common sense” approach, it’s counter intuitive, etc.

      For us, Building Science needs to be useful to improve the lives of the people in need.

       
      So:
      1. Picture a building that you care for

      2. Think of a way in which you could use building science to see the invisible, phenomena that you have not seen before, from your “everyday/user” approach.

      3. Use the diagnostic tools to see and measure those phenomena.

      4. Think of ways this diagnose could help improve what you’ve discovered