Windows for buildings in hot arid countries

Too often, in the last 50 years the energy-thrift lessons of vernacular architecture have been forgotten or ignored. In the Middle East, many recently-designed commercial buildings, with large areas of glazing, incur excessively high electricity-demands to provide energy for the required air-conditioning plant. One way of reducing the magnitude of this demand is through better window design. For this purpose, a new form of triple-glazed window is proposed to facilitate achieving improved thermal comfort within buildings, while simultaneously reducing the expenditures on purchased energy. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.