Energy expert and engineer Marc Rosenbaum will begin teaching a 10-week online course on deep energy retrofits on September 14, 2015.

According to the online course description, “It’s a course for professionals who are serious about transformative energy upgrades in residential and commercial buildings. As a capstone project, you will generate a deep energy retrofit (DER) strategy for a building of your choice with the help of Marc and your classmates.”

Among the topics that Rosenbaum will cover:

• How to assess if a house is a good candidate for a deep energy retrofit (DER)
• How energy is used in most houses, and how DERs change that
• Typical deficiencies of existing homes and how a DER addresses them
• Heat flow, moisture flow, vapor retarders, and how to perform a simple heat loss calculation
• Building blocks of a DER—air tightening, foundations, walls, windows, roofs — and the range of approaches that have been successful
• Heating, cooling, ventilation, and domestic hot water technologies
• Case studies of successful DERs.

The course is offered in partnership with the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA). Tuition is $995; if you sign up soon, you can take advantage of a $100 online discount.

Marc Rosenbaum is a well-known energy consultant and the director of engineering at South Mountain Company on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. He is the author of many Green Building Advisor articles, including Minisplit Heat Pumps and Zero-Net-Energy Homes and Practical Design Advice for Zero-Net-Energy Homes.

More information on the online course is available here: Deep Energy Retrofits course.

A free 32-minute video by Marc Rosenbaum — a teaser for his upcoming course — has been posted here: Deep Energy Retrofit Case Study.