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ES-SO – A new vision on solar shading

In this document the European Solar-Shading Organisation (ES-SO), provide an overview of the importance of solar shading. It emphasises the importance of solar and daylight management to the energy performance of buildings and highlights the impact of dynamic solar shading systems to reducing energy use and CO2 emissions and increasing productivity, health and wellbeing of building occupants.

Key Findings

  • “Energy Performance of Buildings Directive recommends solar shading as one of the most energy efficient solutions available.”
  • “Shading is cost efficient delivering energy savings of up to 60 times its CO2 footprint over its 20-year lifespan.”
  • “Maximum colour spectrum daylight – not just daylight – is essential for general wellbeing.”

Further Detail

The EU has highlighted the importance of reducing our carbon foot print by introducing the 20-20-20 targets and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive in 2010. Through improving the building envelope, which provides a thermal barrier between the interior and exterior in buildings we can control comfort, natural lighting and ventilation levels and how much energy is used to heat and cool our buildings.

Solar shading is recommended as one of the most energy efficient solutions in reducing overheating in highly insulated and airtight buildings.

Using blinds and shutters can reduce the requirement for artificial lighting by up to 80% and enable passive heating of rooms in winter. As 90% of our day is spent indoors, the need for daylight in our buildings has increased as it can improve our health, wellbeing and productivity. Solar shading combined with clear glazing guarantees the full spectrum of visual daylight which is essential for general wellbeing. This combination of shading and glazing provides the best Colour Rendering Index (CRI) which measures how faithfully the appearance of visual colours are in comparison to daylight without any filter.

There are 2 billion energy inefficient window units in the EU, 44% of which are single glazed and 42% uncoated double-glazed. A study across Europe has identified that cooling savings are higher for façades facing between south-east and west and heating energy savings can be gained by closing shading devices at night as it will improve the U-Value of the window system reducing heat loss. The reduction in U-value can be as much as 55% for single glazing and 40% for uncoated double-glazing depending on the shading type selected.

Download this document here: ES-SO – A new vision on solar shading

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