ABSTRACT
It is often believed or perhaps only hoped that there is a simple causal relationship between energy efficiency and architectural shape, and that this relationship, once understood, will enable the designer to design an endless series of energy efficient buildings. Unfortunately, if there is such a relationship, I have not discovered it, and this is because in my view energy is a commodity that building occupants use to enable lives to be made safer, healthier, more comfortable, more efficient, etc. Therefore, the energy used is more associated with what is done in buildings rather than their shape. Of course, some buildings have the ability to use solar heat and daylighting more effectively than others, some need lifts more than others, some more small power, etc. How, therefore, and for what reasons, do people use energy in pursuing their ordinary lives in their ordinary buildings? It is only by understanding this that anything important about this usage can be discovered that might lead to some general rules.
