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The industrialized world continues in its use of nonrenewable fuels for heating, cooling, transportation, electricity production and manufacture. While there is still no obvious shortage of fossil fuel reserves, experts predict that - without major expansion of energy-conservation programs and the harnessing of alternative energy sources - our fixed natural stores will start to dry up within the next two or three decades. Petroleum and gas production will begin to drop and prices will increase. Such future economic worries do not even begin to reflect a vastly more serious concern, namely, the worldwide ecological changes brought about by the burning of fossil fuels. These range from health-endangering air pollution to predicted climatic shifts that could acceleratedesertification and cause the decline of agricultural output in many productive areas.
Because some 40% of nonrenewable energy use in a country like Israel is for heating, cooling, and making buildings habitable, energy-efficient structures could make a major contribution in reducing the national consumption of fossil fuels. In comparison to more temperate climates, the large daily temperature shifts in a desert environment and the wealth of sunlight available for exploitation provide architects and engineers with means to reduce the use of nonrenewable energy sources. This exploitation of climatic conditions to produce dwellings or devices that maintain the living conditions and comfort of residents is known as bioclimatic design.
