Sources of Summer Heat Gain

A building’s envelope continuously interacts with the outside environment, and its performance has a strong influence on the indoor environment and comfort conditions. The envelope and the air conditioning system are closely interrelated, and proper building design can optimize air conditioning system performance, minimize energy costs and improve comfort. The chart below gives you an idea of how much each component of the building envelope contributes to the overall cooling load for a typical office building. This figure indicates that most summer cooling load is due to solar heat gain through windows, infiltration of outside air, and the internal loads of people, lighting and miscellaneous equipment. Reducing solar heat gain through windows is clearly one of the keys to reducing energy costs in buildings with a large amount of window area such as an office building.

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