Energy-efficient buildings are a need of the hour and the process to design them includes constructing/upgrading systems in buildings to make the most of the energy that is consumed by them and taking steps to reduce the loss of energy.
Homes that are energy efficient, regardless of the fact that they have been renovated or built with energy efficiency in mind, offer a plethora of benefits. They are not only less expensive to maintain, and to your surprise more comfortable to live in, and most of all much more environment friendly. Just like residential places turning commercial buildings into more energy-efficient provides benefits for businesses and communities. In countries like the U.S. government offers a tax deduction to commercial buildings that meet the right energy efficiency standards. Companies can save operational costs by reducing their electricity, heating, and air conditioning needs.
Creating energy-efficient facade (solar facades etc.)
The performance of a facade is of major focus in the process of designing an energy-efficient building, it helps ensure the balance between the aesthetics and the energy efficiency part. The reason such a huge emphasis is laid on the facade is that it accounts for more than half of the energy use in a building and if done right can significantly impact the financials. Some of the current regulations in the market require buildings to have LEED certifications and other environmental accreditations this is what makes designers want to have efficiency on their list. Most modern architects and designers support this need for balance although finding a sweet spot between aesthetics and performance is a challenge in itself and a lack of understanding can gravely affect the results.
As the need for high-performance facade designs continues to grow along with the need for high-performance buildings that maximize efficiency, despite the complicated technical challenges for efficiency optimization, facade designers have now had access to more knowledge, tools, and materials than ever to design an aesthetically pleasing building that satisfies performance goals. And on the other hand, as the requirements grow harsher by the day, the usage of simulation models has increased to maximise the overall building performance without losing any aesthetics.
What things need to be kept in mind while designing
One of the major things that need to be understood is that if inefficiencies are not removed in the initial stages, they can then become issues for years.
However, keeping energy-efficient building designs in mind when construction is always a much smarter way to approach making a building more efficient that is less expensive in the long run. Buildings of today have codes from around the world to identify that buildings are energy efficient to a certain degree, but it might be better and perhaps wiser to go above and beyond these requirements to maximise energy efficiency. And since a building operates as a system, it should be looked at as a complete unit in order to fully increase the overall energy efficiency. There can be a number of strategies to increase energy efficiency some of these steps might include:
- Adequate utilisation of insulation in the walls and roof, making sure that it’s never less than needed.
- Using high-quality windows that contain a lower amount of e-coatings and gas fillings, also choosing the glazing and window frame material that will be beneficial to the environment is a smart step.
- Having the building properly weatherized using weather stripping and caulking
- Installing systems and appliances of high performance to have better results in their overall life cycle
- Constantly checking and monitoring performance through energy audits to see where energy is being wasted and where costs can be saved by making marginal improvements.
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