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Energy Efficiency

Of all of the aspects of green design, the commitment to reducing energy usage and promotion of energy efficient system is one of its strongest principles. It is also one of the most appropriate principles to apply to commercial buildings. Energy-efficient design is one of the best opportunities for cutting costs and mitigating potential harmful environmental effects, namely the emission of green house gases, caused by building construction and occupation. Depending on the Project’s size, local climate, use profile, and utility rates, strategies for minimizing energy consumption involve:

• Reducing the size of the building
• reducing the energy load of the building
• sizing the heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems based on optimizing the performance of the system and decreasing extraneous system requirements
• recognizing the occupant’s impact on the building by mandating the use of high efficiency lighting systems, system control devices and occupant required equipment and appliances.

The simplest way to reduce energy usage is to create a smaller building footprint that initially required by means of rethinking the program and spatial configuration and use patterns. If the project size cannot be reduced, the next method to reduce energy usage is to look at the building envelope. The building envelope protects the building occupants and regulates the indoor environment by controlling the flow in energy between the interior and exterior.

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