Passive Solar Design Series - Passive Design Principles

Building consume energy all through its lifecycle - right from construction, operation and demolition during end-of-life. There is substantial evidence that buildings that are designed in consideration to the climate and local context tend to consume less energy compared to conventional buildings. Climate responsive design is really the way forward to reduce the energy demand in a sustainable way. This approach will eventually reduce the use of fossil fuels and associated greenhouse gas emissions.

Passive design principles are inherent to climate responsive design. It includes using appropriate form, orientation, materials, daylight and natural breeze as per the climate, so the cooling demand is sharply reduced. In such buildings, the size of the mechanical cooling system is considerably smaller resulting in low energy consumption. A building can use the most efficient space conditioning system, but if its size is not reduced in the first place, then the environmental benefit it provides is limited. This biggest benefit of a solar passive building is the reduced dependency on mechanical systems.

This course is a part of series called - Passive Solar Design Series  that consist of the following courses

1) Understanding Sun

2) Shadow mask

3) Shading Design

4) Kinetic facades

5) Passive design principles

6) Passive cooling techniques

You can take all the courses sequentially to gain an all-round understanding of climate responsive design. 

This is the 5th course in these series that covers all the passive design principles that are best integrated during early design development stage. The strategies should be implemented in a three step sequential process that will help result in a building which is sustainable. An overview of building physics is also given in the course to further clarify the concepts.