ABSTRACT
Of all the economic, environmental, and other costs associated with urbanization, perhaps none is more telling than this: for every 1% increase in urban population, energy usage increases by more than 2%. “Energy consumption defines the quality of urban life…” [17]. One culprit contributing to the said statistic is the energy used by buildings, which, worldwide, consume approximately 40% of the energy generated by mankind. (Buildings are in turn responsible for roughly half of anthropogenic CO2 emissions [17].) Little wonder that a significant fraction of this energy is consumed by energy-intensive HVAC equipment when, for example, (i) almost three-quarters of Americans consider home air-conditioning a necessity, and (ii) the energy devoted to the cooling of buildings in Los Angeles may, on a hot day, exceed that used by motor vehicles [15].
