Reduce CO2 emissions?

Think Of Our Solar Shading Blinds!

Buildings are the largest energy user in Europe according to the European Solar Shading Organisation. More than 40% of total primary energy goes into their construction and operation. That is more than industry or transport.

Visual Comfort and Safety
There are more areas where solar shading leads to better indoor comfort and to substantial energy savings: daylighting and glare reduction. Daylight control through all kinds of solar shades allows the maximum use of free daylight and can reduce the cost of artificial, electric light by up to 70%. Glare reduction will improve working conditions in offices, reduce sick leave and increase productivity. This will be to the benefit of compliance with EU Directive 89/654 on health and safety at work.

Benefits of Solar Shading in All Types of Buildings
Solar shading and roller shutters, therefore, contribute to a higher degree of indoor comfort and offer distinct advantages in these areas:

• Solar heat control and energy savings on air conditioning, while maintaining free solar heat gain in winter
• Optimum use of natural, free daylight resulting in saving on electricity for lighting
• Avoiding glare and annoying reflections, thereby improving working conditions as imposed by many regulations in the area of work safety
• Lowering thermal transmittance through the transparent parts of the building envelope: insulating in winter and sun protection in summer. In all cases, the efficiency is maximized when the blinds are motorized and automated, so that they will act also when the building is not occupied

Measuring Solar Efficiency of Solar Shading Systems
How effective a solar shading device will be in stopping solar heat and regulating light is determined by its physical properties and can be measured. European standards, in particular EN 410 and EN 13363, as well as software programs developed in European projects, like WINDAT and REVIS, enable us to quantify the efficiency of sun shading systems, Summarizing the main results, we can state that solar shading can reduce up to 90% of the solar energy entering the building, that the interior temperature can be reduced by up to 9ºC so that overheating can be avoided, whereas shutters can lower thermal transmittance by as much as 25%. Optimizing daylight in office buildings can reduce the consumption of electricity by up to 70% during business hours while productivity can be increased substantially with proper daylighting techniques. This shows abundantly that solar shading systems can cut down on the energy use in three areas at the same time: heating, cooling and lighting, especially when the solar shading systems are automatically controlled.

How Much Energy Savings? How Much CO² Reduction?
The solar shading industry can make a substantial contribution toward reaching the energy savings objectives of the European Union, as expressed by the EPBD. A properly installed and automated solar shading system can reduce the cooling load by 20 to 40%, depending, naturally, upon the surface of the glazing and the orientation of the façade. In one laboratory test energy savings of 28% on the cooling load were found. Considering that cooling costs extra primary energy, a large potential of CO² savings can be expected. Extrapolation of a survey in a major EU country has shown that a reduction of at least 10 to 15 million tons of CO² could be achieved if roller shutters were used for the improvement of thermal insulation in private houses in the EU. And that is just one single measure. ES-SO is ready and able to launch a study to quantify the potential CO² reduction from other measures, such as solar blinds, as a result of savings in the area of air conditioning and artificial light, and for the area covering all 25 EU countries.

For more information call 020 7700 6000 or send an enquiry.