Buildings and energy consumption.

An interesting article on the architecture 2030 website about energy consumption as it relates to buildings. The article shows three pie charts with the first two showing U.S. energy consumption and the third one showing worldwide energy consumption. Surprisingly, it shows that transportation only accounts for 1% of energy consumption and buildings for 76%.  That energy comes from electricity produced from oil or gas. Sometimes the heating uses oil or gas directly. But in both cases, oil or gas is used. Energy requirements are for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) as well as lighting, elevators, security systems and all other systems using electricity. The charts include energy required for construction, renovation and maintenance of the buildings.

Most of that energy requirement could be reduced by having more intelligent HVAC systems, better insulation and heat management. But most importantly, large buildings could incorporate energy producing features such as harnessing wind and solar energy as well as geothermal energy.

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