Energy saving
It is appreciable that the government has taken an initiative to have electrical energy by changing the clock time. Through this decision maximum utilization of daylight is possible in many built spaces like offices, shopping centres, schools, colleges etc. as these building-users use electricity approximately from 8:00am to 6:00pm
But is it the effective solution to save electrical energy by utilizing daylight? Are our buildings designed in such a way to use the maximum of daylight in the interior spaces?
If we see the electrical energy consumption data of the PDB, we would find that about 86% of total electrical energy of Dhaka city is consumed by the residential buildings of Dhaka city and only 11% by the commercial buildings (source: Electrical energy consumption pattern of various consumers in Dhaka city, Year 2007, PDB). The main reason behind the huge consumption of electricity by residential buildings is the 24-hour use of electricity by the users and the structure as well as lifestyle of the families in Dhaka city. The consumption load is also increasing through construction of the huge number of apartment buildings which have minimum setback with the side buildings and many of them have little provision of inclusion of daylight in the interior of the buildings. So the total energy consumption for using only artificial lights is vast in the residential sector.
Most of the office interiors and shopping malls are designed with maximum uses of attractive artificial lights and little provision daylights. The design of opening or windows of the buildings may play a vital role for daylight inclusion in these interiors. So, the architects should give more emphasis on daylight inclusion and designing energy efficient buildings through manipulating proper built-space volume, openings and setbacks.
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