HVAC Primer for Design Professionals
DISCLAIMER
Before purchasing, review the rules of your licensing or certifying entity. It is your responsibility to confirm this course meets your CE requirements. See the credit tab on the course page for details.
What’s Included: Full webinar recording, written course materials, expert instruction, a mandatory quiz, and a certificate upon completion.
Deliverability Timeline: All courses are generally available within 1-2 weeks after the live presentation.
CE Credits: AIA and/or LA/CES accreditation is available by request for courses recorded prior to March 11, 2026. All courses after that date include those accreditations by default, if applicable. With these accreditations, our courses qualify for credit in nearly all states for engineers, surveyors, architects, and landscape architects.
Learn more about the on-demand format in our FAQ or contact us at (715) 835-5900 or customerservice@halfmoonseminars.org
Agenda
Registration: 8:00 – 8:30 am
Morning Session: 8:30 – 11:45 am
Lunch (On your own): 11:45 am – 12:45 pm
Afternoon Session: 12:45 – 4:30 pm
Reviewing Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Principles
Purposes of HVAC systems
Examining sensible and latent heat
Principles of heat transfer
Reviewing heat transfer equations for liquids and gases
Conventional and Green Building Codes
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers standards and guidelines
State and local residential and commercial codes
LEED and other “green” rating systems
HVAC System Design Considerations
Building location and construction
Making HVAC load calculations
Unconditioned and conditioned spaces
Single and multiple zone systems
Sizing systems and using variable capacity systems
Evaluating HVAC Systems and Equipment
Heat pumps: air source and ground source
Chilled water
Variable refrigerant flow systems
Forced air systems
Radiant heat systems
Constant volume and variable air volume systems
Distribution systems: piping and ductwork
HVAC System Controls
Control system goals: maintain thermal comfort, reduce energy use, monitor performance
Control system options
Reviewing Equipment and Techniques for High-Performance Buildings
Additional goals of high-performance HVAC: thermal comfort and improved indoor-air quality
Right-sizing equipment
Variable load performance
Shifting and reducing loads
Heat recovery
Commissioning
Operation and maintenance
Cogeneration
Credits
Professional Engineers
6.5 PDHs
Architects
6.5 HSW CE Hours
6.5 AIA HSW Learning Units
Contractors
Non-Credit Continuing Ed.
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public and offers 6.5 PDHs to professional engineers and 6.5 HSW continuing education hours to architects in all states.* Educators and courses are not subject to pre-approval in Pennsylvania.
This seminar is approved by the American Institute of Architects for 6.5 HSW Learning Units (Sponsor No. J885). Only full attendance can be reported to the AIA.
HalfMoon Education is deemed an approved architect continuing education sponsor in New York. HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for engineers in Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey (ApprovalNo. 24GP00000700), New York (NYSED Sponsor No. 35), North Carolina, and North Dakota.
This program offers a non-credit continuing education opportunity to construction contractors. It has not been submitted to any state contractor licensing entity for continuing education approval.
Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the seminar for most individuals who complete the entire event. Attendance certificates not available at the seminar will be mailed to participants within fifteen business days.
*Excludes Florida architects.
Speakers
David Horton
David Horton Director of Green Certifications, Sol Design + Consulting
Mr. Horton is a skilled tradesman turned energy geek. He began his journey retrofitting historic buildings. As Mr. Horton saw the care required to restore historic buildings, he hoped to be able to modernize their performance. Through training provided by PHIUS, GBCI, RESNET and other building performance-oriented organizations, he acquired the necessary skills to guide project teams to the highest performing building approach possible. Mr. Horton has done this by working on hundreds of Energy Star homes, more than 300 LEED projects, and Passive House projects spread out across six states. As one of the founding members of Passive House Alliance Kentucky, he aims to bring Passive House and other high-performance building approaches to the mainstream. Mr. Horton has been the CPHC or PHIUS+ Rater on projects in Indiana, Cincinnati, Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri. He provides consulting support on multifamily PHIUS+ projects in central and western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. He has been the green rater and HERS rater on 300+ LEED projects totaling thousands of units and has acted as field quality assurance for Raters under HERS Providers for multiple years. Mr. Horton has created solutions to a plethora of problems in old buildings, with respect to energy efficiency, and has been part of teams that constructed multiple different building types with multiple uses. Mr. Horton holds CPHC, PHIUS+ Rater, HERS Rater/QAD/Trainer, LEED AP Homes and LEED Green Rater/QAD certifications.