A window is an opening in a wall,door,roof,or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material,a sash set in a frame in the opening;the sash and frame are also referred to as a window. Many glazed windows may be opened,to allow ventilation,or closed to exclude inclement weather. Windows may have a latch or similar mechanism to lock the window shut or to hold it open by various amounts.
In passive solar building design,windows,walls,and floors are made to collect,store,reflect,and distribute solar energy,in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because,unlike active solar heating systems,it does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices.
Daylighting is the practice of placing windows,skylights,other openings,and reflective surfaces so that direct or indirect sunlight can provide effective internal lighting. Particular attention is given to daylighting while designing a building when the aim is to maximize visual comfort or to reduce energy use. Energy savings can be achieved from the reduced use of artificial (electric) lighting or from passive solar heating. Artificial lighting energy use can be reduced by simply installing fewer electric lights where daylight is present or by automatically dimming or switching off electric lights in response to the presence of daylight –a process known as daylight harvesting.
A solar thermal collector collects heat by absorbing sunlight. The term "solar collector" commonly refers to a device for solar hot water heating,but may refer to large power generating installations such as solar parabolic troughs and solar towers or non-water heating devices such as solar cookers or solar air heaters.
Passive house is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building,which reduces the building's carbon footprint. Conforming to these standards results in ultra-low energy buildings that require less energy for space heating or cooling. A similar standard,MINERGIE-P,is used in Switzerland. Standards are available for residential properties and several office buildings,schools,kindergartens and a supermarket have also been constructed to the standard. Energy efficiency is not an attachment or supplement to architectural design,but a design process that integrates with architectural design. Although it is generally applied to new buildings,it has also been used for refurbishments.
Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through improved efficiency and moderation in the use of materials,energy,development space and the ecosystem at large. Sustainable architecture uses a conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built environment.
Passive cooling is a building design approach that focuses on heat gain control and heat dissipation in a building in order to improve the indoor thermal comfort with low or no energy consumption. This approach works either by preventing heat from entering the interior or by removing heat from the building.
Solar gain is the increase in thermal energy of a space,object or structure as it absorbs incident solar radiation. The amount of solar gain a space experiences is a function of the total incident solar irradiance and of the ability of any intervening material to transmit or resist the radiation.
A powered attic ventilator,or attic fan,is a ventilation fan that regulates the heat level of a building's attic by exhausting hot air. A thermostat is used to automatically turn the fan off and on,while sometimes a manual switch is used. An attic fan can be gable mounted or roof mounted. Additional vents are required to draw in the fresh air as the hot air is exhausted. Attic fans are typically used in warmer months,when temperatures in an attic can exceed 120 °F (49 °C). A fan may be installed in an attic for the different purpose of cooling a whole house,venting hot air out via the attic;such fans are often called whole-house fans.
Solar architecture is designing buildings to use the sun's heat and light to maximum advantage and minimum disadvantage,and especially refers to harnessing solar power. It is related to the fields of optics,thermics,electronics and materials science. Both active and passive strategies are involved.
Solar air heating is a solar thermal technology in which the energy from the sun,insolation,is captured by an absorbing medium and used to heat air. Solar air heating is a renewable energy heating technology used to heat or condition air for buildings or process heat applications. It is typically the most cost-effective out of all the solar technologies,especially in commercial and industrial applications,and it addresses the largest usage of building energy in heating climates,which is space heating and industrial process heating.
A groundscraper is a large building that has relatively few stories but which greatly extends horizontally.
The Lake Ainsworth Recreation Hall is a multi-purpose recreation hall,used for basketball,netball,badminton and other sports,as well as meetings,films and theatrical performances that is located at Lennox Head,in Northern New South Wales,Australia. The building was designed in 2005 by architectural firm Allen Jack+Cottier,replacing an old,worn-out indoor sports facility.
The Tower at PNC Plaza is a 33-story skyscraper in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. It is the corporate headquarters of the PNC Financial Services Group and has approximately 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2),standing 33 stories tall. Nearby buildings totaling 37,000 square feet (3,400 m2),were purchased by PNC and deconstructed to make space for the Tower at PNC Plaza. It is located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street,where PNC and its predecessors have been based since 1858.
A skylight is a light-permitting structure or window,usually made of transparent or translucent glass,that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to solar energy:
The Swanston Academic building is an RMIT building designed by the architecture firm Lyons and is located on Swanston Street in Melbourne across from Peter Corrigan designed building 8 and ARM's Storey Hall. Construction began in September 2010 and was completed in September 2012. The budget for the SAB was $200,000,000. The new building contains 35,000 square metres (380,000 sq ft) of floor space,is 11 storeys high and provides 6 large lecture theatres for students. The colourful building is intended to reflect the cities surroundings in the façade. “The idea is to wear the ‘cloak’of the city”.
The Terry Thomas Building,located in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle,Washington is a sustainable,LEED-certified office building completed in 2008. The Terry Thomas is Seattle's first commercial office building structure developed in decades without central air conditioning. It was designed by Seattle-based architectural firm Weber Thompson,who also designed the interiors of the building and use it as their headquarters.
Indira Paryavaran Bhawan is India's first on-site net-zero building located in New Delhi,India. The building houses the Ministry of Environment,Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) accommodating three ministers and their offices along with about 600 officials. The building,designed and constructed by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD),was completed in 2013 at a cost of INR 209 Crore.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Headquarters is the corporate headquarters of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation,located in Los Altos,California. The Packard Foundation was created in 1964 by David Packard and his wife Lucile Salter Packard,one of the top 100 grant-making foundations in the United States,with the goals of improving the lives of children,enabling the creative pursuit of science,advancing reproductive health,and conserving and restoring the Earth’s natural systems. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Headquarters is designed by EHDD to be the largest net zero energy building in California,and it has successfully reduced the energy use by 65% over conventional buildings.
