I believe architects have the most significant role in creation of our built environment. Decisions that the design teams make about:

• the location of a building on a site
• building size, shape, color and orientation
• size and location of fenestrations
• shading devices
• natural ventilation
• heating cooling and daylighting strategies

… All have direct impact to the energy consumption of the building.

These decisions are usually associated with human impacts on the environment. The building sector alone accounts for 30-40 percent of global energy use and over 80 percent of the environmentally harmful emissions from buildings are due to energy consumption during the times when the buildings are in use. The fact about these design decisions, as Edward Mazria points out, is that there is not any extra cost associated with the implementation of these decisions, rather the question is how much will the project save by implementing the appropriate Design Decisions!

The above-mentioned decisions are most suitable if are considered at the beginning of the design process, but at this stage, most architects don’t have enough time and available resources to extract the appropriate information to make correct Design Decisions for their project. But, sustainable design consultants can offer their expert advice, as design guidelines, to the design team at the beginning of the design process. These guidelines can be an invaluable resource to architects and design teams who wish to offer climate friendly and energy efficient projects to their clients and have role in protecting the environment.

I dedicated my professional life to research about the effect of climate on architecture and urban design, and currently focused on providing services to architects and architectural firms. My services include Climate Analysis, Design Guidelines, and Building Energy Modeling.

Please refer to my web site for further information.