ABSTRACT
The first step in meeting a cooling load is to reduce the load compared to what it would be under standard practice, then to consider passive techniques for meeting some or all of the load, and lastly to consider mechanical means to meet any remaining load. Reducing the cooling load depends on the building shape and orientation; on the choice of building materials; on window size, orientation and performance characteristics; and on a whole host of other decisions that are made in the early design stage by the architect. The usual procedure today is to ignore climate in the design of buildings, as the engineers are supposed to take care of the problem of making the building habitable through mechanical (and energy-intensive) means. To create buildings that are adapted to the prevailing climate requires more work, because the same universal design template cannot be used everywhere. Highlighting the much greater effort and creative thinking required to design low-energy buildings than conventional buildings, Koch-Nielsen (2002) distinguishes between active design, which uses passive measures to achieve the desired indoor conditions, and passive design, which uses active (mechanical) measures to achieve the desired indoor conditions. Because conventional modern designs largely ignore climate, architecture loses its connection to place: the same building forms and designs are now seen in New York, Houston, Hong Kong or Singapore.
