Group items tagged

Why restaurants are large energy consumers. 

An energy-efficient building envelope, or skin, could just be one of the holy grails of sustainability. In a ground-up building, the exterior surfaces provide opportunity for both success and failure in energy-efficiency. One element of the envelope that is especially susceptible to issues is the window. I reviewed one of the articles on www.buildinggreen.com for smart windows. The article focused primarily on electrochromic (responsive to electrical current) windows and also added some notes regarding a newer technology of thermochromic (responsive to heat) windows. The electrochromic windows offer controllability for the occupant by tinting themselves when a switch is flipped. This tinting can assist with daylight and passive solar issues. However, they are also subject to users leaving them in the on position and therefore may use more energy than intended. The thermochromic windows have the potential to be a more automatic solution by tinting themselves when the window is subjected to a certain amount of heat gain. However, these may restrict daylight and views. The technology of smart windows will be interesting to view in the years to come.

more of why restaurants are big energy consumers, and other good resources about restaurants and energy. 

Since the majority of my architectural work is within the interior environment, the idea of studying the solar path for a project is intriguing. I remember using the Solar Pathfinder in school with layers of mylar, measuring and tracing the horizon. However, now there is a device that simplifies the process and makes it accessible. I reviewed the write-up on www.buildinggreen.com for the Solmetric SunEye. This device not only takes a photo of the horizon so you don't have to measure or trace it, but it also has an interface that assists with the calculations to determine solar access for the specific site. This SF Bay Area company is responding to the need for this digital version of the old manual Solar Pathfinder. Since we used a similar model in our site exercise, I cannot imaging locating a building on a site any other way now. I look forward to using the device again and perhaps even studying the effects on the interior environments of existing buildings through the calculations it can provide.