Solar Shading Products and their effect on Overheating, Well-being, Productivity, and Sustainability in the UK Built Environment

Blinds and shutters have long been identified as effective methods of attenuating daylight, reducing glare, and managing the thermal gains and losses through the glazing in a building. Shading products can provide energy savings and alter the internal environment to improve occupant comfort. Changes in occupants’ perceptions of their comfort can have a subsequent effect on their perceived health, well-being, and actual productivity. Currently, the extent that differing shading products reduce internal temperature increase in UK homes is not well understood. Furthermore, the way shading products alter the internal environmental conditions overall and how these variations affect an occupant’s health, well-being, and productivity has not been fully investigated. If shading products are used to obtain the various performance benefits, they require occupants to operate (open and close) them effectively. More sophisticated shading products incorporate motors and sensors to improve the operation of such products. These systems require a large number of natural resources, so an assessment is needed to identify whether the operational energy savings provided from the use of shading products outweigh the environmental impact of the products themselves throughout their lifetime. To explore these gaps in research, three real-world, two laboratory, and one desktop study were conducted. Two of the real-world studies were carried out in domestic buildings (an apartment and a semi-detached house) and the third was conducted in a non-domestic office. Data was collected when the shading products were extended and retracted, and statistical analysis was used to compare the data. In the domestic studies, quantitative data were collected relating to the internal temperature conditions. In the non-domestic study, quantitative and qualitative data were collected relating to the changes in a broader range of internal environment conditions and the experiences of the occupants in open and closed blind conditions. This included investigating occupants’ perceptions of comfort, health, well-being, and their subjective and objective productivity. The domestic studies showed that when internal and external shading products were closed, there was a significant reduction in internal temperature increase when comparisons were made between a room with and without shading. Shading products mitigated overheating risk, suggesting that they can improve the thermal comfort of building occupants in warmer weather conditions in UK homes. Of the two system types tested, external shading was most effective. The non-domestic study results confirmed there are both positive and negative benefits to having shading products extended in warmer conditions. The objective productivity of occupants was both negatively and positively affected and this differed depending on the type of task or cognitive function being tested. The two laboratory-based studies investigated the acoustic performance of internal shading products which are conventionally installed in UK buildings. This investigated the impact they have on sound reverberation and the acoustic transmission of sound. Overall, the results showed internal shading products can reduce reverberant sound and how they are installed (specifically the distance from the window) affects the amount of reverberant sound absorbed. It also identified differing fabrics have different capabilities in reducing sound transmitted into buildings. However, further research is needed to quantify the impact of the transmissive properties of shading fabrics when installed in a real building. The desktop study involved a screening Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of an external automated Venetian blind, an internal motorised roller blind and an internal manually operated roller blind. The LCA incorporated the real-world semi-detached house previously investigated as part of the functional unit to carry out the LCA. The operational energy savings of the different types of shading products assessed were stepped as the energy saving potential of shading products varies depending on how they are used and operated. The comparative analysis of the three shading systems suggests the control strategy (automated, motorised, or manual) alters how much operational energy needs to be saved and how long the shading product must be installed for before it becomes environmentally neutral and then environmentally beneficial

Surprising results from a Post Occupancy Evaluation of the way internal roller blinds impact perceptions of visual discomfort

Blinds and shutters are one of the few products in the built environment that affect perceptions of visual and thermal comfort. However, in general, internal roller blinds are more frequently installed in UK offices to improve visual comfort as opposed to thermal comfort. With the increased frequency in warmer weather events resulting from climate change it is likely that blinds will be extended more frequently to improve thermal comfort as well as reducing perceptions of glare and visual strain. When internal shading products are extended it is assumed that glare and visual strain will no longer be experienced. However, when conducting a Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) into whether the position of roller blinds (either fully extended or fully open) affected perceptions of glare, a greater level of visual discomfort (specifically glare) was experienced by occupants when shading products were closed. Distributions of light around the task area play an important role in improving visual comfort when occupants are carrying out desk-based activities yet moveable shading is frequently excluded from daylight simulation assessments of visual comfort. The closure of blinds can affect the distribution of daylight within a space and thus occupants can perceive glare issues from other internal sources of light. This research suggests that the deployment of shading products should be considered in the assessment and predictions of internal lighting conditions to provide lighting designers with a more holistic view of visual comfort throughout the year. Furthermore, in POE it would be beneficial to ask occupants what they believe the glare source to be

The Challenge of Modelling Solar Shading Products and Their Impact on the Built Environment.

Improved insulation and glazing contribute to overheating in buildings, the incidence of which is rising. Blinds and shutters can reduce thermal gain if specified and used correctly and their value as passive / low energy products is now being acknowledged by construction professionals, who also recommend that building models include solar shading devices to reduce overheating in buildings. However, some software does not appear to generate accurate models of shading products and their impact as illustrated in a comparative study of recent real-time data from a refurbished residential building in London and the results of building simulations. This paper describes this study and the reasons for the limitations in the models and proposes that software is updated to account for changing weather and climate

Using Life Cycle Assessment to Illustrate the Benefits of Blinds as Passive and Sustainable Energy Saving Products in the Domestic Environment in the UK

Blinds and shutters create privacy during the day and night in residential and commercial buildings. They are also widely used in warm locations to keep rooms cool when sunny and to reduce heat loss at night or in winter; in turn this reduces use of air conditioning, heating, associated energy, carbon and costs. Although these benefits have not been fully recognised in the UK, some can be assessed via 'Shade Specifier' (an online tool developed by the British Blind and Shutters Association and London South Bank University), to promote their wider and more correct use. Recent research has confirmed the importance of blinds and shutters in passive temperature control, which indicates that they contribute positively to sustainable living; their overall level of sustainability has not been fully determined however because to date the majority of research has only considered operational energy savings and/or carbon equivalent inputs and outputs. This paper seeks to present a more holistic and accurate evaluation of the environmental impact of blind use as an aid to sustainable living in a typical domestic setting in the UK. Life Cycle Assessment is used to model the overall product life and associated impacts of 4 different types of blind, different product life spans, levels of energy consumption and potential savings during the heating season in order to demonstrate the real benefits of this type of window covering in the UK

The Challenges and Benefits of Developing a Sustainable and Circular Business Model for the Blinds and Shutter Industry in the UK

Blinds and shutters create privacy during the day and night in residential and commercial buildings. They are also used to keep rooms cool when sunny and to minimise heat loss at night or in winter; in turn this reduces use of air conditioning and heating, associated energy inputs, carbon and equivalent outputs and costs. As well as controlling temperature, blinds and shutters can be used to reduce glare, control light levels and to contribute to general health and well-being. Despite these various benefits in many instances in the UK blinds and shutters are not opened and closed and/or adjusted correctly and consequently the above benefits are not fully realised. One means of addressing this problem to ensure maximum operational energy savings and thermal comfort is the implementation of motorised and/or automatic blind opening and closing. By default however this increases the number and variety of components, materials and manufacturing processes and embodied environmental impact. In this study Life Cycle Assessment is used to measure and compare combined embodied environmental impact and potential operational energy savings of a variety of types of manual, motorised and automated blinds in a typical domestic environment in the UK. Currently the majority of manually operated blinds and shutters are either sent to landfill or incinerated with energy recovery at end of life even though the materials, manufacturing and assembly processes for these products indicate that reuse and recycling are relatively easy to achieve. Not only does this study clearly illustrate the benefits of reuse and recycling all types of blind at end-of-life, it also highlights the necessity for doing so in the case of motorised and automated systems. In addition to recycling the paper explores other business models (such as component reuse, remanufacture, leasing, buying a service), all of which are associated with the development of a Circular Economy for this sector. Finally this paper discusses specific challenges for this industry

Developing a Sustainable and Circular Business Model for the Blinds and Shutter Industry in the UK

Blinds and shutters have been used around the world for hundreds of years. They offer building occupants privacy and security and contribute to health and wellbeing; they can also reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling which is environmentally and economically beneficial. Current design and manufacturing processes mean that disassembly is relatively easy, which facilitates reuse, repair and ultimately recycling. At present these practices are limited and most blinds are either sent to landfill or incinerated at end-of-life. In this chapter we propose that design is key to extending current good practice in and accelerate the development of a Circular Economy for this sector

A Real-world Study of the Relationship between Subjective Assessment of Productivity, Subjective Perception of Environmental Conditions and Objective Productivity Measures

Improvements in staff productivity have been identified as a leading driver for commercial companies in the design of healthier and efficient buildings. However, evidencing improvements in productivity is difficult owing to the considerable number of environmental variables and behavioural differences between people. Consequentially, there are few real-world case studies evidencing how, why and if the environment has an impact on productivity. Current methodologies are based on objective measurements such as absenteeism/presenteeism, staff turnover and medical/physical complaints but, these data can be difficult to gather, are not collected to a set methodology and require significant resources to organise. An alternative and simpler method has been to ask staff how they perceive their own productivity which is used in many Post Occupant Evaluations (POE) included in the Building Use Studies (BUS) Methodology and the Leesman Index Survey. Whether this corresponds with actual productivity levels and environmental preferences is often questioned in real-world scenarios. This new study demonstrates this relationship through an evaluation of two office spaces. Occupants were given subjective questionnaires, objective cognitive function tests and work type tests that replicate administrative tasks alongside a POE environmental evaluation on two days of each week over 8 weeks in summer. Passive interventions were placed in the two offices in the form of differing solar shading strategies to produce contrast in operative temperatures and lighting levels within the rooms. Window openings and air ventilation was controlled. The findings are briefly presented and discussed in this paper

THE BARRIERS TO AND DRIVERS OF A CIRCULAR ECONOMY FOR THE BLINDS AND SHUTTERS INDUSTRY IN THE UK

Blinds and shutters create privacy in residential and commercial buildings; they can also be used to keep rooms cool when sunny and to minimise heat loss at night or in winter, which reduces use of air conditioning and heating, associated energy inputs, carbon and other outputs and costs. In addition to controlling temperature, they also reduce glare and control light levels, all of which contribute to general health and well-being. In many instances however these products are not used correctly and consequently their potential is not fully realised. Consequently a streamlined LCA was undertaken to measure overall environmental impact and to promote the value of blinds as passive and sustainable energy saving products in a typical house in the UK. The LCA also shows that recycling has a lower impact than other end-of-life scenarios although at present the majority of blinds and shutters are either landfilled, down-cycled with construction waste, or incinerated with energy recovery. The materials used in conjunction with component design, assembly, and disassembly processes indicate that it is technically feasible to develop a Circular Economy for this industrial sector to conserve resources and energy although there are a number of barriers to its development; therefore this paper concludes by discussing these barriers and drivers for change in order to help businesses to develop a Circular Economy and to bridge the gap between theory and practice

The Challenge of Modelling Solar Shading Products and their Impact on the Built Environment

Improved insulation and glazing contribute to overheating in buildings, the incidence of which is rising. Blinds and shutters can reduce thermal gain if specified and used correctly and their value as passive and/or low energy products is now being acknowledged by construction professionals, who also recommend that building models include solar shading devices to reduce overheating in buildings. However, some software does not appear to generate accurate models of shading products and their impact as illustrated in a comparative study of recent real-time data from a refurbished residential building in London and the results of building simulations. This paper describes this study, reasons for the limitations in the models and proposes that software is updated to account for changing weather and climate

Developing a Sustainable and Circular Business Model for the Blinds and Shutter Industry in the UK

Blinds and shutters have been used around the world for hundreds of years. They offer building occupants privacy and security and contribute to health and wellbeing; they can also reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling which is environmentally and economically beneficial. Current design and manufacturing processes mean that disassembly is relatively easy, which facilitates reuse, repair and ultimately recycling. At present these practices are limited and most blinds are either sent to landfill or incinerated at end-of-life. In this chapter we propose that design is key to extending current good practice in and accelerate the development of a Circular Economy for this sector