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| KFPA Project: Mabopane |
“Harvest sunlight and save energy.”
There are many ways to reduce the impact of man-made structures on the environment, it is a collaborative effort of environmental design considerations in which a structure is built and learns from the way that the natural world responds to the context in order to inform us how to respond to our natural world. The better we respond, the less our long-term impact will be.
We consume energy everyday and we need to continuously refine and redefine the way that we live, build and interact with our natural resources in order to remain sustainable. Energy for lighting is one of these areas.
“Residential lighting is considered an energy hungry area: 6% of world-wide energy consumption is allocated to light private homes. Currently lighting is largely achieved through incandescent and halogen light bulbs, which convert more than 80% of the energy used into heat rather than light! More conscious households have now introduced and installed CFLs (compact fluorescent lights) or the newer and even more efficient LEDs (light emitting diodes).”
Sunlight is the best source of natural warmth and natural light and although installing low energy light sources (like CFLs) is a viable way to reduce energy consumption, harvesting sunlight in your building is still the best way to bring in light without consuming any energy. At KFPA (Gauteng-based architects), we employ green design concepts in order to maximise natural lighting in our projects.
We consider the path of the sun, spatial orientation, natural ventilation, light and control of heat gain, and loss, to maximize the potential for energy savings through the use of an optimal day lighting solution. The strategic size and placement of windows greatly affects the potential for natural light. Buildings are planned with optimal wing depth to allow sufficient natural light penetration throughout the building, reducing the requirement for artificial lighting. It is also important to balance the consideration of natural daylight and glare to ensure comfortable working spaces
Once the building is well designed from a day-lighting perspective, we then look to the artificial lighting systems to further reduce the energy demand for the building. An energy efficient lighting system can use as little as 20% of the energy that a conventional incandescent installation would require. This, coupled with motion sensors that ensure lights are only on when they are needed, makes a considerable difference in creating a comprehensive, sustainable lighting solution.
There are many factors that are considered to develop a tailor-made solution to each specific project; lighting is only a single aspect of a green building strategy.
Contact us at Krige Falconer Partnership Architects for more information on how you can reduce the energy used in lighting your offices or home.
