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Role of the Architect

Reduction in energy consumption and use of renewable energies has become increasingly important in the architectural field: in fact the building sector is responsible for a third of energy consumption in Europe where solar leading the energy trend.

In this context, the architect has a very important role as he or she acts as a consultant for their customers and must therefore behave impartially while defending the technical, aesthetic and financial interests of the client. The architect has a duty to disclose the advantages of a low energy consumption building and the benefits of renewable energy.

A lot of current thinking regarding the problem of comfort in buildings is based on the idea that it can be tackled at a later date using artificial systems for thermal control: this leads local climate factors being ignored and often just worsens climatic problems rather than solving them. The aim of an energy conscious project is to optimize natural control systems so as to regulate both natural energy gains as well as losses through a buildings envelope.

Decisions on the optimization of the thermal envelope of a building and on the right choice of renewable energy must be taken at the start of a project so as to integrate these considerations into the project concept. It should be pointed out that decisions which have greatest impact on a buildings energy behavior are those taken at the beginning of the planning process.