Case Studies: Florida Solar Energy Center

Architects Design Group

In the design of their new facility, the Florida Solar Energy Center's goal was to create "the world's most energy-efficient building" within climatic limits. Beyond this, a Center mission to educate the public, and their affiliation with the University of Central Florida, meant that the building must also be a didactic design demonstrating its energy efficiency. The building itself had to be a teaching tool, one monitored long after commissioning to ensure that it meets efficiency standards.

The Energy Center design starts with the premise that in most office buildings, electric lighting is the largest energy load, and much of it is unnecessary. In Florida's warm and humid climate, excess electric lighting only adds to air-conditioning loads. If a building is to keep occupants cool and dry without consuming much energy, it must effectively address daylighting in its basic form and development.

If the overall design strategy is to turn the building itself into a daylight fixture that captures light, there is certainly a need to reject light too. With cooling loads dominating the building in this hot-humid climate, the facility envelope cannot be a heat sink for solar gains. To keep the Energy Center's air-conditioning load down, the facility's white roof reflects almost 80 percent of the sun's energy. Even though the building's walls are blue, rather than white, they still block heat gain through the use of a radiant barrier. This aluminum foil surface in the air space behind the exterior finish blocks the transfer of solar-generated heat.