Arch 463
ECS
Final
Fall 98

40 Mystical, Magical, Musical, Multiple Choice Questions

Part I—New Questions

1. Helmut Jahn’s State of Illinois Building in Chicago is a twenty story L-shaped building with a southeast-facing atrium enclosing the legs of the L. As a prototype for a passive office building 
	A. it’s effective because it allows early morning solar gain
	B. it’s effective because it allows maximum daylighting
	C. both of the above
	D. it’s ineffective because it’s a valid prototype for a SDL, not an IDL, building

2. An advantage of active solar heating over passive solar heating is 
	A. lower maintenance costs
	B. control over the timing of energy use
	C. lower first costs
	D. all of the above

3. The active solar water-based collectors on Malcolm Wells’ Carey Arboretum in 
up-state New York have
	A. proved to be effective over the last twenty years
	B. been replaced by a gas-fired boiler
	C. proved to be ineffective because of the extremely cold climate
	D. been upgraded to cutting-edge air-based collectors

4. A solar heating strategy that proved effective in the Brookhaven House in New York State is 
	A. a triple-glazed greenhouse
	B. direct gain
	C. Trombe wall
	D. all of the above

5. The design equivalent temperature difference (DETD) is used 
	A. to replace T in the hand calculation for heat gain
	B. to approximate solar gains through windows
	C. to calculate the stack effect in towers
	D. all of the above

6. Sensible heat (and no latent heat)
	A. is given off by electric lamps
	B. is given off by building occupants
	C. wears oxfords
	D. all of the above

7. Passive cooling systems usually deal with
	A. sensible heat
	B. latent heat
C. both sensible and latent heat
	D. none of the above

8. Imagine point A, plotted at 50ºF and 50% RH on the Bioclimatic Chart, and point B, plotted at 75ºF and 50% RH. To get from point A to point B, you
	A. simply add solar energy
	B. add solar energy and lose water
	C. add solar energy and add water
	D. add solar energy until the dew point is reached, then cool by evaporation
9. Psychrometry is the study of 
	A. space, time, and architecture
	B. air, moisture, and heat
	C. earth, wind, and fire
	D. sociology and time

10. For air at 98ºF and 20% RH the dew point is
	A. 68ºF
	B. 60ºF
	C. 50ºF
	D. 43ºF

11. The humidity ratio is identical for all air conditions at a constant
	A. dry bulb temperature
	B. wet bulb temperature
	C. relative humidity
	D. none of the above

12. You can use a psychromatic chart to
	A. find the dew point
	B. perform mechanical cooling sizing calculations
	C. find the enthalpy of specific air conditions
	D. all of the above

13. A 200-ton air-conditioner is sized to effectively cool a building with peak cooling loads of 
	A. 400,000 btuh
	B. 2,400,000 btuh
	C. 4,000,000 btuh
	D. 4,400,000 btuh

14. The thermal energy principle that compression and absorption cooling have in common is
	A. compress gas, it heats up
	B. decompress gas, it cools down
	C. evaporate liquid, it absorbs heat
	D. all of the above

15. David Drown’s house uses 
	A. a water-to-water heat pump to move heat energy from the ground loop to the storage tank
	B. an air-to-water heat pump to heat domestic hot water during both the heating and cooling seasons
	C. both of the above
	D. none of the above

16. Bill Loosely’s heat pump is
	A. just like David Drown’s
	B. uses freon in the ground loop
	C. cools the air in the summer
	D. all of the above

17. A compression cooler loses efficiency when 
	A. outdoor temperatures exceed 100ºF
	B. interior temperatures exceed 80ºF
	C. interior humidity exceeds 50% RH
	D. all of the above

18. An absorption cooler can be used in an active solar building because
	A. it requires heat to maintain system equilibrium
	B. it requires heat to cause all the evaporation
	C. it needs seasonal storage of “cool” 
	D. all of the above

19. To make the west wall of building an effective thermal mass for heating and cooling, its structure could be
	A. an uninsulated cast-in-place concrete wall with gypsum board applied to the interior
	B. a solid masonry wall with an interior wood-frame, insulated wall
	C. a brick veneer over 3” rigid insulation and an interior CMU wall
	D. any of the above

20. A building has ample overhangs on the north and south facades and no east or west facing windows. You should rate its shading strategy as 
	A. superior, no improvement needed
	B. adequate for summer only
	C. requiring minor adjustment for June afternoons
	D. ineffective in summer during the early morning and late afternoon

Part II—Review Questions

21. A building that approaches the ideal of sustainable architecture is
	A. Dougherty + Dougherty’s Center for Regenerative Studies at Cal Poly Pomona
	B. Richard Meier’s Getty Center in Los Angeles
	C. Lou Kahn’s Kimball Gallery in Dallas
	D. all of the above

22. The use of thermal mass in one of Michael Reynolds’ earthships in New Mexico can be attributed to principles of vernacular architecture for a hot arid climate
	A. directly applied to the building
	B. used as a conceptual model for the building
	C. misapplied to a building in a temperate climate
	D. none of the above

23. You can measure the amount of solar thermal energy that passes through a window with
	A. a spot pyranometer like a Raytek 
	B. a Licor pyranometric meter
	C. both of the above
	D. none of the above

24. Deciduous trees planted to the south of a direct gain solar aperture will 
	A. assure adequate shading in summer
	B. maximum solar gain in winter
	C. both of the above
	D. pre-cooling of ventilation air from the south

25. You’d expect the climate of a South American city located at 38ºSL and 100 miles east of the Andes to be 
	A. hot and humid
	B. hot and arid
	C. temperate with hot dry summers
	D. temperate with hot humid summers

26. On a summer day the air temperature outside one of the entrances to the Palouse Mall is expected to be
	A. lower than the air temperature of the admin lawn
	B. about the same as the air temperature of the admin lawn
	C. higher than the air temperature of the admin lawn
	D. about the same as the air temperature of the admin lawn, but drier

27. Effective vertical shading devices for the north side of a building in Moscow will 
	A. only block June sun
	B. block June and July sun
	C. block sun from spring equinox to fall equinox
	D. be exposed to the sun year-round

28. A historic architect who prescribed measures for constructing passive solar buildings was
	A. Vitruvius
	B. Palladio
	C. Frank Lloyd Wright
	D. all of the above

29. You’d expect an architecture that stresses enclosure as a barrier to environmental forces to be located in the 
	A. sky layer
	B. near surface layer
	C. surface layer 
	D. subsurface layer

30. A direct gain solar building uses thermal mass to
	A. control daytime air temperature 
	B. release heat during the evening
	C. minimize temperature swings 
	D. all of the above

31. The effectiveness of a cross ventilation scheme in terms of heat removed is determined by the size of the 
	A. inlet aperture
	B. outlet aperture
	C. the smallest aperture (inlet or outlet)
	D. the largest aperture (inlet or outlet)

32. The effectiveness of stack ventilation is increased when 
	A. stack height is increased
	B. inlet aperture is increased
C. temperature at the top of the stack is increased
	D. all of the above

33. A building in Phoenix AZ can be effectively passively cooled by
A. shading the windows
	B. nighttime ventilation 
	C. using daylighting to replace electric lighting
	D. all of the above

34. The rate of conductive heat loss through the skin of a building is increased when
	A. the U-value of the wall is increased
	B. the exterior temperature is increased
	C. the R-value of the windows is increased
	D. all of the above

35. For a composite wall made four materials, each with a U-value of 0.20, the R-value will be
	A. 0.80
	B. 1.25
	C. 5
	D. 20

36. The reason that a vapor barrier can be placed outside the interior studs in a superinsulated, double-framed wall is
	A. the dew point will not occur between the vapor barrier and the interior wall surface
	B. plumbing can be installed inside the vapor barrier
	C. the vapor barrier is protected from nails for hanging pictures
	D. all of the above

37. Single-pane, blue-green tinted glass is effective in
	A. reducing solar gain
	B. increasing visible light penetration
	C. reducing reradiation to the exterior
	D. all of the above

38. Glazing that is effective for cooling and daylighting features
	A. high transmission of visible light
	B. high transmission of solar heat
	C. both A and B above
	D. higher transmission of visible light than of solar heat

39. In a hot arid climate, the most cooling is delivered to the surrounding building by a courtyard that  
	A. has a central fountain
	B. has a large central deciduous tree
	C. has both a water feature and vegetation
	D. is paved and barren

40. Thermal energy can be stored seasonally as exemplified by  
	A. Ron Bevans’ rock bed
	B. Henry Mathews’ water tank
	C. the earth below David Drown’s house
D. all of the above