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Learn how things actually work

Short, plain-language courses and how-tos from the Cobler team, explained from the ground up. Pick a course, start at part one, and work straight through.

5 courses81 lessonsFree to read
What Is Electricity, Actually?23-part course

Electricity Fundamentals

23 lessonsBeginner-friendlySelf-pacedFree

A layman-friendly series on why electricity is measured, priced, and engineered the way it is: power vs energy, watts, reactive power, AC vs DC, and power factor.

  1. 1What Is Electricity, Actually?
  2. 2Volts and Amps: Electrical Pressure and Flow, Explained
  3. 3What Is an Electric Circuit? Series vs Parallel
  4. 4Power vs Energy: The Difference Between kW and kWh
  5. 5Joules vs kWh: Why Energy Has Two Names
  6. 6Why Is Power Measured in Watts? Blame the Steam Engine
+17 more lessonsStart the course
How Does an Air Conditioner Work? It Moves Heat, It Doesn't Make Cold20-part course

Cooling Fundamentals

20 lessonsBeginner-friendlySelf-pacedFree

How buildings are cooled in the tropics — from why air conditioners move heat rather than make cold, through chillers and cooling towers, to the efficiency numbers that decide most of your electricity bill.

  1. 1How Does an Air Conditioner Work? It Moves Heat, It Doesn't Make Cold
  2. 2The Refrigeration Cycle Explained Simply: The Loop That Carries Heat Outside
  3. 3The 4 Main Parts of an Air Conditioner (and What Each Does)
  4. 4What Is Refrigerant, and Why Does It Keep Changing? R22, R410A, R32 Explained
  5. 5Why Is My Office Cool but Still Humid? Sensible Heat, Latent Heat and Dew Point
  6. 6Indoor Air Quality in Offices: Fresh Air, Filters and What CO2 Really Tells You
+14 more lessonsStart the course
What Is a Building Management System (BMS)? A Plain-Language Start14-part course

Building Automation & BMS Fundamentals

14 lessonsBeginner-friendlySelf-pacedFree

How a building management system senses, decides and controls a building — from a single sensor to a whole chiller plant run by software, explained in plain language.

  1. 1What Is a Building Management System (BMS)? A Plain-Language Start
  2. 2BMS Sensors and Actuators: A Building's Senses and Muscles
  3. 3Controllers, DDC and I/O Points: The Brain Behind the BMS
  4. 4How Control Loops Work: Setpoints, Feedback and Closing the Loop
  5. 5PID Control Explained Simply: Why a Valve Overshoots, Hunts or Settles
  6. 6What Is a Sequence of Operation in a BMS?
+8 more lessonsStart the course
Why Saving Energy Is Really About Money (and Carbon)15-part course

Energy Management: The Economics of Saving Energy

15 lessonsBeginner-friendlySelf-pacedFree

Judge an energy-saving project like a CFO would — how energy becomes cost, how to tame TNB maximum demand, and how to build a defensible business case with payback, NPV, IRR, life-cycle cost and the abatement curve.

  1. 1Why Saving Energy Is Really About Money (and Carbon)
  2. 2Power vs Energy: What You Actually Pay For
  3. 3How to Read a TNB Bill: Energy, Capacity, Network and AFA
  4. 4Maximum Demand: Why One Bad Half-Hour Costs So Much
  5. 5Time-of-Use, Green Tariffs and Avoidable Penalties
  6. 6Fuel, Heat and Why Thermal Savings Are the Big Money
+9 more lessonsStart the course
Inside the Consumer Substation: The Locked Room9-part course

Building Electrical Fundamentals

9 lessonsBeginner-friendlySelf-pacedFree

Follow the power from the locked substation to the socket in the wall — every box, breaker, cable and drawing in your building's electrical room, explained without the jargon.

  1. 1Inside the Consumer Substation: The Locked Room
  2. 2MSB, SSB and DB: Your Building's Electrical Tree
  3. 3Cable Size and Voltage Drop: Why Distance Matters
  4. 4Circuit Breaker Types: ACB, MCCB, MCB, RCCB, RCBO
  5. 5Neutral Earth Bonding: Why It Happens Exactly Once
  6. 6Lightning and Surge Protection: Why the Router Dies
+3 more lessonsStart the course

More courses on the way

In the meantime, the blog has one-off explainers and how-tos on energy and buildings.

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