Peter F. Alspach, PE, LEED, Arup, San Francisco
Gail Brager, PhD, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley
Paul Torcellini, PhD, PE, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colo.

      Discuss operable windows in commercial buildings, including benefits and market barriers, adaptive thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings, the integration of natural ventilation and mechanical cooling (mixed mode), analysis methods used in the design process to predict the building’s thermal performance, monitoring of energy use in existing buildings, and a summary of lessons learned.

Learning objectives:

• Communicate the benefits and challenges of operable windows and incorporate practical lessons learned into future design applications
• Explain and apply new standards for thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings
• Identify the project timing, benefits, and methods of evaluating the thermal performance of naturally ventilated buildings.