Walls & Ceilings Architect/October 2007

W ith today’s rapidly rising energy Careful planning can lead to more energy-efﬁcient, envicosts, building and design proronmentally friendly buildings By Stan Gatland fessionals are well aware of the need for more sustainable, energy-efﬁcient methods involves providing substantial thermal control structures. Customers are beginning to throughout a building, or insulating it from the loss of become more budget-conscious and heed the call to make valuable heated or cooled air, which accounts for a siztheir buildings more environmentally friendly. able chunk of the average utility bill. “The sustainable building movement is growing expoBy taking the following guidelines into consideration, nentially because, with today’s high energy prices, everybuilding professionals can gain a higher understanding one is realizing that there are ﬁ nancial incentives to do of thermal control and be able to construct energy efﬁthe right thing,” says Lucas Hamilton, manager of Buildcient buildings that will beneﬁt the customer as well as ing Science Applications for CertainTeed Corp. “Sustainthe environment. able building methods are designed, among other things, to reduce our overall energy consumption, which is a very important issue as we plan for the future.” ELEMENTS INFLUENCING BUILDING DESIGN The study of building science has Building design is inﬂuenced by three increasingly become a vital influence main elements: the building envelope, on builders and designers, and more are mechanical systems and building occutaking a systems approach to design. In pants. The building envelope refers to building science, a building is ideally the union of structural components in deﬁ ned as a series of interrelated sysa building, including the exterior walls, tems designed to provide comfort and the foundation, windows, doors and safety to occupants with a high degree roof. Next in line, the mechanical equipof energy efficiency. Building science ment element encompasses all mechanitakes into consideration the forces and cal objects within a building, such as stress placed on a structure by the occuHVAC systems, lights, computers, printpants and environment and counteracts ers, plumbing and security systems. them with design methods that produce more sustainable results. This infrared image of a commercial building comIn the quest toward high energy efﬁplex shows the transfer of heat from one object to another due to electromagnetic waves. ciency, one of the most important design 24 | Walls & Ceilings Architect | October 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Walls & Ceilings Architect/October 2007

Contents Trade News Silver Certiﬁed Airtight The Men of Steel Thinking Thermal Firestop 101 ICFs Create a Tight Envelope The Finish Line The Green Thumb Cracking the Code

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