Friday, 20th June 2008

Energy saving: Small windows or large?

Michael Bonnici, Żebbuġ

We have been informed that Mater Dei Hospital has small windows purposely constructed to save energy from excessive heat of the sun during the hot summer days and perhaps less penetrating cold during cooler days. The reason being the need to cut down on energy use from the massive load that is equivalent to that of our sister island as a whole.

On the other side of the coin, we have learnt that a public school is being built with large windows constructed purposely for maximum light penetration, thereby saving energy through the use of natural elements... Can somehow, anyone, explain in detail the advantages and disadvantages and consequently, the resulting benefits of these two schools of thought?

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Comments

laurence schembri (on 21/6/08)

There is always a twist in my meanings. (Joe Martinelli)
`The Ministers and government are not competent to decide such matters`-You said it man!Have no idea how long you been away, but have you seen the mess that our so called architects made of this little island? And please do keep in mind that parliament is loaded with architects and lawyers, so in theory they should have an idea of what is going on.
This island has become a concrete jungle. Dosh speaks louder than pride.

Ing. Albert Ellul (on 20/6/08)

@Mr. Michael Bonnici et al non- technical chaps: Mater Dei hospital is fully air-conditioned, having its building fabric designed to keep the heat inside during winter and outside during summer. Furthermore, hospitals are occupied 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. On the other hand, schools are not air-conditioned and are mostly occupied during the winter and shoulder months, while in summer, schools are mostly unoccupied or at best operated on a morning-only basis.

I would recommend that people who have difficulty in understanding technology should enroll on a basic course in building engineering before putting finger to keyboard.

Patrick Cassar Trigona (on 20/6/08)

The reason that the school saves money by having large windows and the hospital by having small,is because the hospital is airconditioned.Small windows reduce heat gain.
Whereas the school requres natural ventilation of a sufficient amount for the number of occupants and light is a bonus.

oe Martinelli (on 20/6/08)

Why don't we all leave these matters in the hands of competent people like architects and energy consultants who may recommend different sizes of windows for different purpose buildings?

The Minister and the government are not competent to decide such matters.

Phil Pryce (on 20/6/08)

The conflicting arguments prove that, like politicians speaking to the people, you can convince anyone of anything if it is in your interest to do so.

Ramon Casha (on 20/6/08)

I'd say ideally one should go for large, double-glazed windows. In the context of a hospital, where many windows lead into wards, there is also a matter of privacy to consider, not to mention that keeping a very stable temperature is probably more critical than in a school or office.

Russell Lethbridge (on 20/6/08)

To aircondition a room requires something of the order of 1kW to light it requires something like 0.05kW depending on the type of light bulb used. Of course you might need the a/c for less of the year than the light but I'd still guess that the smaller windows would be the more efficient.

J Micallef (on 20/6/08)

Excellent, Mr. Bonnici. I was thinking the same thing.
Trust politicians and their (!) gullible reporters to send conflicting messages.
It would be interesting, though, to see if there's someone ready to defend either one of these two theories. Perhaps they'll say that it won't matter much in schools since they're closed in summer! Blah!

Jean Pierre Aquilina (on 20/6/08)

The choice of glass is just as important as the size of the aperture. I am no expert in glass, but from research which I carried out for myself, I learnt that modern technology allows for large apertures, hence maximum light penetration but with minimal UV/infrared penetration and heat loss.

You can look up www.pilkington.com and www.saint-gobain.com, the web sites of two leading glass manufacturers.

Hope this helps.

Energy saving: Small windows or large?

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