No more floor-to-ceiling windows
Change the building code to reduce floor-to-ceiling windows. This type of condo design requires an unecessarily large amount of energy for heating and cooling. These windows usually have a couch or TV unit or shelf shoved up against them and blocking the view anyway! Even putting a solid wall on the bottom 25% of each storey would reduce energy use. (And hopefully liven up the architecture compared to the currently ubiquitous - and boring - walls of glass condos.)
Elle Zed
shared this idea
Glazing ratios are addressed in our passive design toolkits and may be revised in design guidelines. This idea is included in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan.
-
AdminCOVSustainableDevel
(Admin, CG2020)
commented
Important issue: floor to ceiling windows contribute significantly to heat loss in buildings (and excessive heat gain during the summer months). LB has the right idea. The City is looking at passive design guidelines and energy performance targets: strategies that will allow flexibility for designers to meet the energy performance requirements (and yes, likely rule out floor to ceiling windows)!
-
LB
commented
Is it necessary to ban floor-to ceiling windows - or is the better approach to set energy performance standards (that floor-to-ceiling windowed buildings couldn't meet)? The goal really is to improve the energy performance of the building, yes?