Autodesk Eduction Community

To improve your building’s energy efficiency, you need to understand its site, program, and energy loads. 

Energy Loads

Energy "loads" are how much energy your building needs. These demands can be provided by electricity, fuel, or by passive means.  A building's energy loads depend on both its site and program.

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Building Site

Site considerations include climate (sun & clouds, wind, temperature, humidity, and precipitation), the building's immediate surroundings (other buildings, trees, etc.), and location in the context of a city or other area (walkability, transit access, and other transportation for the people who use the building).

In addition, building massing and orientation are two factors of passive heating, cooling, and daylighting that are so fundamental to early-stage design that they are often taken as part of site considerations.

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Building Program

An architectural program scopes a building project by outlining its goals, conditions, and objectives. The program is usually defined by the owner, but it is important to involve both occupants and designers to create it.

The program explains how the design will be used, by specifying things like: activities, occupancy, types of users, schedule of operations.

It also includes more detailed requirements such as: room sizes, space needed per person, relationship between spaces, equipment needed, and budget.