The central philosophy behind
green building is the judicious use of resources in a manner that provides for man’s
needs today without jeopardizing the ability of the future generation to
fulfill their own energy needs.
The illustration above shows the
authors’ conceptualization of how energy consumption is related to the use of
HVAC equipment, which emanates from the need to maintain a comfortable indoor
environment for the occupants in terms of indoor air quality and thermal
comfort. The arrows indicate the two way relationship between the sections
implying that any change in either of the sections bears significance on the
others. The authors’ argue that for
energy consumption to reduce, passive design strategies must be adjusted to
provide alternative sources of natural ventilation and thermal comfort. Such
design
strategies may
include but not limited to design issues affecting building height, form, orientation, etcetra.
