The Three Most Important Design Considerations for Energy Efficiency

Course Description

As much as we talk about sustainability in architectural design, we often miss some important context. The three most important enclosure-related factors influencing how much energy a building will consume are, in order: glazing ratio (how much glass is on the building and how good is the glass?), air tightness (how well have we separated the inside from the outside?) and insulation (how much insulation are we using and is it continuous?). This list is not intuitive for a lot of professionals, and in prioritizing design decisions it helps to understand these relationships better, including differences between commercial and residential buildings and where we are as an industry.

Course Instructor Christine Williamson

Course Length 15:00

Published 18 Aug 2022

BROWSE 1,025 THERMAL PROTECTION PRODUCTS

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Keywords: building science, energy efficiency, glazing ratio, glass, energy, sustainability, energy use intensity, insulation, continuous insulation, enclosure design, thermal performance

AIA

About Building Science Fight Club

Christine Williamson - Assoc. AIA

Building Scientist | Instructor

Christine Williamson has spent her career in building science forensics, discovering why buildings fail and working with owners, architects, and builders to remedy the problems. She is the founder of the Instagram account @BuildingScienceFightClub, an educational project that teaches architects about building science and construction.