ABSTRACT

The urgency and rationale for designers to create low energy commercial office buildings that respond to climatic conditions and indoor comfort in an environmentally sensitive manner are well established. Energy consumption from existing buildings, and the inherent embodied energy already spent, represent the majority of the commercial building sector's energy use well into the future. Much of this stock is 20–30 years old and due for major refurbishment. Therefore, most significant opportunities for reducing the energy use of commercial buildings arise in retrofitting rather than new-build.