101 Rules of Thumb for Low Energy Architecture

Introduction, and What the Rules of Thumb are for

Our ancestors knew how to create comfortable indoor conditions with modest use of resources in their indigenous architecture and we must now re-learn their intuitive skills and apply them for tomorrow’s world. This book seeks to reintroduce to the reader that intuitive knowledge, explaining what works in buildings which use little or no energy in their operation, wherever they happen to be on the planet. It aims to provide the reader with two things:

- An understanding of the universal rules of nature which govern the way buildings respond to their environment, and

- Specific low energy-use, rule-of-thumb solutions for new buildings or for retrofitting existing buildings

The rules of thumb are ...