Technology has defined both the form of the buildings and energy use. Electrical lighting, mechanical ventilation, curtain-wall systems, air conditioning, and office equipment all contribute to a modern building's energy consumption. Two of these technologies that have had the most influence on the energy consumed by commercial buildings have been the lightbulb and the air conditioner.
Energy use in buildings has risen dramatically since 1900 because of technologies that enabled the creation of man-made indoor environments. It began with the invention and proliferation of the electric lightbulb in the 1880s. Fluorescent lighting became popular in the late 1930s, and by 1950 had largely replaced incandescent lamps in commercial buildings. However, incandescent lamps still are used in approximately 17 percent of the pre-1970 building stock.
Tasks such as health care, office work, manufacturing, studying, and other tasks requiring visual acuity all benefited from electric lighting. It also meant that workers didn't need access to a window to be productive. Designers could use artificial illumination to light tasks away from windows. Interior spaces that didn't require skylights or cleristories were now possible in commercial buildings.
The next major advance was elevators in the early 1900s followed by air conditioning in 1920s.
This is a free page. This page contains 193 words. This
article contains 3,478 words (approx. 12 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our Building Design, Commercial Access Pass.
