Energy efficiency and conservation in buildings: The use of indicators

Abstract

The paper deals primarily with energy used in residential and commercial buildings. The commonly used yardsticks for energy efficiency and conservation are the total amount of energy spent and the ratio of energy to GNP in individual countries. Both indicator are misleading. They lead to pessimistic conclusions, which are wrong. Existing buildings were designed to optimize their economic value in terms of initial investment and cost of exploitation during their lifetime when energy was cheap. There is an enormous potential for improvement in newly designed buildings and this potential is being taken advantage of. The use of accurate indicators for assessing energy efficiency is discussed. These include energy spent per household (for residential buildings), energy per square meter (for commercial and public buildings), energy per pupil (for schools), with an additional sophistication to allow for climate (energy per degree day). An analysis of energy consumption in buildings, carried out for several countries, indicates a sustained improvement of the efficiency in the use of energy and paints a rather bright picture in contrast to the prevailing opinion based on false indicators.