Pt. I Energy Issues: Use & Standards

Architectural Design and Changing Technologies

Until the turn of the twentieth century, the architect typically served as "master builder,"overseeing and integrating design and construction. New technologies that appeared in the nineteenth century and came to fruition in the twentieth century changed the way we build, along the role and image of the architect.

New structural materials such as iron, steel, and reinforced concrete made it possible to build tall buildings and freed walls from the structural role they had played for centuries. A frame work of columns, beams, and a reinforced concrete floor slab could carry structural loads. Wall could be made of thin, lightweight materials, such as aluminium, and in some cases could be reduced to little more than glass.

By the second half of the twentieth century, new developments in cooling and lighting specifically air conditioning and fluorescent lighting, resulted in even more dramatic changes in building designs. The implications of a given design approach on energy use and occupant comfort were difficult to understand, or they could be ignored because of new technologies

The Development of Air-Conditioning

Giving credit to Willis Carrier the inventor of air-conditioning for cooling technologies that were built in the nineteenth century. Adding the ability to not only cool air but control humidity. In the 1920's his company installed air-conditioning in theaters, department stores, and the chambers of the U.S Senate and House of Representatives. Small residential air conditional units were developed by Carrier Corporation in 1928, but the great depression limited their spread.

The Impact of Fluorescent Lighting

Fluorescent lighting uses less energy and produces less heat to achieve a given light output than incandescent lighting. It was first available in 1938, even later than air-conditioning. The combination of air-conditioning and fluorescent lighting had a dramatic effect on building form. A tall building from the twentieth century was designed with a narrow floor plan, typically no wider than 50 ft, and tall ceilings. This made it possible to light the buildings during most operating hours within daylight and to cool the building much of the year with cross ventilation through operable windows.

Examining Your Environment

Resource limitations, geopolitics, and recognition of the environmental impacts of energy use have generated interested in significantly reducing energy use in buildings. At the same time, there has been renewed interest in providing buildings occupants with a connection to daylight and a sense of personal control over their immediate environment. Study of benefits and limitations of traditional buildings designs, coupled with an understanding of appropriate application of modern technologies addresses both of these concerns.

Energy Efficiency, Resource Limitations, and Global Warming

Why be concerned with the energy used to operate the buildings in which we live, work, and play? Four reasons are foremost

1. The fuels we currently use to generate power are largely non-renewable, and supplies will not last indefinitely.

2. Deposits of natural gas, the "cleanest" fossil fuels currently in widespread use, are limited and mainly located in geopolitical hot spots.

3. Demand for fuel on global markets continues to rise, and production levels - especially as some current furl exporters develop economically and become net importers-may not remain high and lead to price increases.

4. Coal, the resource domestically available and burned to generate much of our electricity, releases gases into the atmosphere that are dramatically changing the earth's climate.

For these reasons, it is important to understand the central role building design and operations play in shaping our energy future.

Energy Efficiency, Resource Limitations, and Global Warming

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