Buildings, Energy and the Environment

"... Six and a half billion people and counting. But all these people will need clean air to breath, clean water to drink, food, satisfactory accommodation, transportation, communication, and of cource tremendous amounts of energy. The question is: is it possible to provide all of the above to all the people who live on planet earth without exceeding the limits of Biosphere? And of cource, here we come upon the meaning of sustainability, the problem that we have to also take care about the future generations... And all of this, taking for granted that the surface of our planet will be patient enough towards mankind, until we find, propose and apply solutions..." This collective work, aims at two levels. First, to help make easily understandable the problems that the increasing needs of humanity have created -and still continue to create- both with the man-made environment, and with the extreme consumption of energy sources. Second, to propose ideas, approaches, facets, methods and possible solutions from several disciplines and specialities, all of them aiming at not only the prevention but also the cure of the problems that regard the relationship between Man and the Environment, and in particular the man-made environment, whether it refers to a sole building or to a larger urban scale.