Building orientations, location of windows, and characteristics of the site have a huge influence to building overtime. For example, the clear story window facing north placed on the top of each floor of the buildings would enable constant light access into the room without having glare. If you place building facing south it would be a huge problem since in the summer time the sunlight is really bright causing the room temperature to be extremely hot. However, if there are deciduous forests placed surround the buildings the foliage of the trees would block the sunlight during summer but allow sunlight to access the room during winter times. Placing the building complexes in certain orientation respond to the wind direction would block the winter winds but also allows summer breeze to enter the center spaces. In addition, when placing the buildings you also need to consider about the topography, climate, landform, and so on. By getting to more about the site and design the buildings respond to the site would actually save energy and be more economic effective.
For instance, in order to energy consumption and green house gas emissions, the buildings need to maximize natural energy resource as well as minimize energy load.
Awnings have advantages that contribute to more sustainable buildings. It results in reducing direct sunlight and then cooling energy savings. Eventually it reduces global warming from greenhouse gases. The peak demand for using electricity is also dropped since the maximum temperature is decreased.
Based on the research on the effect of placing awnings by the windows in residential buildings, it has shown that the results of energy decrease is quite impressive. Of the cities that have been studied, Phoenix appeared to have the highest demand for energy consumption. Also in the studied groups there are two types of houses which are the house with windows evenly distributed on each side, and the other type of house with majority of the windows being placed west. Notice the annual peak of temperature change ranging from 86.7 to 63.4°F. Also be aware that Phoenix has a hot desert climate which means that it has very hot, and long summer times and short, cool winter times that requires lots of air conditioning.
The amount of energy need for cooling in Phoenix is 7438kWh, but after applying Awnings the number dropped to 5905kWh.
7438kWh – 5905kWh = 1533 kWh
1533kWh ÷ 7438kWh =~20.6%
so simply applying Awnings to the windows it would decrease the energy consumption for cooling by about 20.6%.
For the windows mostly facing west, the amount of energy need for cooling in Phoenix is 8122kWh, but after applying Awnings the number dropped to 6046kWh.
8122kWh – 6046kWh = 2076 kWh
2076kWh ÷ 8122kWh =~25.6%
so simply applying Awnings to the windows facing west it would decrease the energy consumption for cooling by about 25.6%.
Based on the research on household energy use in Arizona, the average energy consumption in Arizona is about 14,000kWh, and 25% of the electric consumption use is air conditioning which is more than four times than the national average which is only 6%. However the space heating is 15% compared to US average which is 41%. In addition more than 90% of Arizona households use air conditioning and 86% of the households have central air conditioning.
Based on the provided informations, if we assume the statistics for the cooling savings apply to the whole Arizona area. And we know that the population for Arizona is 6,731,484.
14,000kWh x 25% = 3500 kWh
( 20.6% + 25.6% ) = 23.1%
3500 kWh x 23.1% = 808.5 kWh per household
The average household size in US is 2.6 persons, so, 6,731,484 x 90% ÷ 2.6 = ~2,330,129.08people
2,330,129.08 x 808.5 kWh/people = ~1.9×109 kWh
So we conclude that having the Awnings would save 1.9×109 kWh of energy consumption in Arizona. The electricity in Arizona cost 11.17 cents/kWh
so, 1.9×109 x 11.7 cents/kWh= ~0.212×109 dollars = ~2.12 x108 dollars
So using Awnings would save 2.46 x108 dollars which is about 2 hundred millions of dollars!
http://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/reports/2009/state_briefs/pdf/az.pdf
http://www.csbr.umn.edu/download/PAMA_FinalSummaryV2_1.pdf
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_6_a
It is very true that orientating house in a good way can be more effective in terms of using daylighting, outdoor shades, natural wind and so on. You analyzed how awning can provide shades for indoors to avoid over heating. I’m actually thinking we are in a opposite situation in Pennsylvania so it might be interesting to do some research on that as well. We have a quite cold winter, and a relatively chill summer here so sunlight is valuable in the winter. It can heat certain indoor area if we can get sufficient.