A Comparison of Traditional and Contemporary Buildings by Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emission: A Case-Study from Tabriz-Iran

Abstract

It is evident upon a comparison between the examples of contemporary and traditional buildings that climate-responsive building design strategies of traditional buildings finds increasingly lesser use in contemporary architectural designs and that traditional building culture has begun to disappear. Due to the increasing building stock with the expansion of city centers over the years, a higher amount of energy is required for heating, cooling, and ventilation, which leads to a higher amount of greenhouse gas emission. The ever-increasing greenhouse gas emission is inevitably involved in the emerging global climate crisis. The present study investigated the climate-responsive design approaches adopted in traditional and current buildings in Tabriz, Iran. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of passive system strategies used in the design of traditional buildings in Tabriz on energy efficiency and to analyze current buildings in terms of annual energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions with a view to the changing building stock both architectural and mechanical design terms. The results of the study suggested that transferring the climate-responsive architectural design experiences of the past builders to new generations was crucially important and that it was necessary to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in newly constructed buildings by means of energy efficiency regulations and building standards as promulgated by the government.