Nov. 14, 1997 Contact Pauline Austin (541) 346-3129 Editors note: For more information, contact G.Z. Brown, University of Oregon, (541) 346-5647; Lance LaVine, University of Minnesota, (612) 624-5814; Mark Dekay, Washington University, (314) 935-6282; and Paul Clark, VPI, (540) 231-5329. EUGENE--Tons of carbon dioxide gases leak into the atmosphere each year as a result of energy produced to power inefficient buildings--contributing to the greenhouse effect. With that in mind, the U. S. Department of Education (USDE) has enlisted researchers at the University of Oregon and three other universities to help architectural students learn how to build more energy-efficient buildings. The department has awarded a grant to the UO's Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, the University of Minnesota, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Washington University to develop curriculum that will teach energy-efficient design to the next generation of architects. "We can incorporate energy analysis and strategies into the earliest stages of building design," says Project Director and UO researcher G.Z. Brown, "and that's one of the easiest ways to reduce energy use and improve the environment." The four universities will work together over the next three years to develop course materials in both traditional and electronic formats for use in studios, seminars and lecture classes. The researchers will evaluate the effectiveness of the program as part of the project. Brown is director of the UO Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, which developed an energy evaluation software tool called "Energy Scheming." The program performs energy calculations on building designs from simple graphic data, avoiding the need to enter tedious numerical data. The software features thermographics--color images in shades of red and blue--that reflect rates of heat gain and loss. These images vividly show the user where the building is losing or gaining heat. The thermographics are augmented with an expert system called the "infrared professor," that tells the user which parts of the structure--windows, walls and roofs-- need to be redesigned to make the building more efficient. At the UO, the project researchers will produce a self-paced set of "Energy Scheming" exercises students can use without guidance or assistance from an instructor. Researchers will produce the seminar as a series of web pages with links to notes on energy concepts, explanations of the algorithms used in "Energy Scheming," case histories, and material on how to incorporate energy considerations into architectural design. The UO-developed course materials will be linked to architecture schools across the nation. The $288,616 grant from the USDE Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education will cover 49.8 percent of the project cost. Participating universities will pay the remaining costs. -30- #G-6016/Local,OrDailies,OrD/Bus,Or/BUS,SBUS, ARCH