101 Rules of Thumb for Low Energy Architecture

Chapter 4Energy and the Internal Environment

• Free heating: direct, isolated and indirect solar gain
• Free cooling: using earth, wind and water
• Free lighting: daylight
• Colour

Rule 53. We are an Indoor Species

As a rule of thumb, in the so-called developed regions of the world we spend about 90% of our time inside buildings. We use mainly fossil-fuel-derived energy to maintain comfort conditions within those buildings, and the production of that energy results in the release of CO₂, a greenhouse gas linked with global warming and climate change. Unless we revert to being a mainly outdoor species, we must reduce our energy use.