Passive and Low Energy Architecture contains the proceedings of the Second International PLEA Conference held in Crete, Greece, on June 28 to July 1, 1983. The book is organized into four parts as the topics of the conference. The first part brings together papers dealing with case studies of individual buildings or groups of buildings, completed or to be built, and of community planning. The case studies cover examples from 13 countries in Europe, North and Latin America, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The second part contains papers on experimental work and technical developments with passive and low energy systems and components. The third section focuses on the ill-defined but crucial to designers, area of design aids. The fourth section centers on implementation and management of these energy systems, including topics of international programs, education, and training of design professionals. The book will be useful to energy conscious designers, architects, engineers, and planners in this field of interest.

Until very recently, energy supply of the world has been treated as being nearly inexhaustible. Nowadays about 90 percent of the energy used is obtained from non-renewable resources: oil, natural gas, coal and uranium. These resources are being used up at an alarming rate. To meet our demands we are now searching for new sources of energy. One of these new sources of energy is solar energy which will assume increasing importance. It is free but means must be developed to use it economically. Research is actively under way to reduce the storage cost of this low intensity energy and for the design of economical systems. The purpose of this Institute is to provide an international forum for the dissemination of information on solar energy utilization: fundamentals and applications in industry. This meeting is primarily a high level teaching activity. The subject is treated in considerable depth by lecturers eminent in their field. The other participants include scientists, engineers, and senior graduate students who themselves are involved in a similar research and who wish to learn more about current developments, as well as scientists from other areas who are planning to research on solar energy. The lectures are supplemented by informal discussions designed to encourage the free and critical exchange of ideas. A limited number of contributions are also included. This volume contains both basic and applied information contributed during the Institute. The editors appreciate the cooperation of Martinus Nijhoff Publishezsin making the proceedings widely available.