Energy efficiency is a determinative trend of modernity. How to stay energy-efficient with the sun protection systems?

16/ 04/ 2020

Recently, there are many references and conversations about energy efficiency. Today active implementation of energy-efficient systems in every area of our life is an important component of future development. Of course, the development of mankind has led to the technological progress. At the same time, the progress has its own price and consequences that can change the life and comfort of every person. The problem is also important for Ukraine. The fact is that the energy intensity of Ukrainian GDP is 3-5 times higher than similar indicators for developed countries. This is too much, that’s why engineering solutions and actions are needed right now, but not tomorrow or sometime in the future. We and the company MANEZH, a leading Ukrainian developer and manufacturer of sun protection systems for facades of buildings, hotel terraces, restaurants, private houses and outdoor areas, cannot stay away from the determinative trend of our time and, confidently following the times, share our knowledge in the field of energy efficiency and options for how to mitigate the human impact on our planet. Photo: office of company MANEZH Energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is, first of all, the efficient use of energy resources, the less use of energy to ensure the same level of energy supply for buildings or technological processes in production. They started to talk about energy efficiency seriously in the middle of the last century. The first mention dates back to 1944, when the Ukrainian scientist Volodymyr Vernadsky presented his work “A few words about the noosphere”, where he examined the human influence on the biosphere. To avoid the self-destruction of mankind, it was necessary to reconsider the attitude to the environment. So the concept of the noosphere was introduced - this is the state of the biosphere under the conditions of reasonable exploitation and human activity. 40 years later, namely in 1987, the US Department of Energy prepared a report to the president, where energy security was first publicly mentioned. And there were reasons for this because by that time it was impossible not to note the rapid development of energy and its negative impact on the nature. Ten years later, the Kyoto Protocol appeared to limit greenhouse gas emissions. But, despite all this, the problems of excessive anthropogenic pressure on the environment remain relevant to this day. Moreover, the charge for excessive consumption of resources are growing like loan commitments. And every year the consequences are more and more noticeable. In the new century, the concept of global warming is relevant for any part of the Earth. It provoked the melting of glaciers, and this process can affect not only the climate, but also the geographical map of the world. Right now, the melting of Antarctic glaciers is slowing down the global warming process. This is the conclusion of USA scientists and added new changes to the climate model. The ice of the Antarctic delays in time a critical increase of the Earth’s temperature by 2 ° C and now, according to their calculations, a similar destructive effect is expected not in 2053, but in 2065. At the same time, the world ocean level may rise 25 cm higher than expected in 2100, that means that water will take a part of the coastal territories. The developed part of humanity is aware of the problems and understands the necessity to search for other, more effective ways of being on the planet. It is not only about rational consumption, but also the application of various effective engineering solutions. How to stay energy-efficient with sun protection systems?. Energy efficiency can bring significant economic, social and environmental benefits. Proper efficiency policies can enable the world to achieve more than 40% of the emission reductions needed to achieve the climate goals even without sophisticated technology. One of the most important approaches in the field of energy efficiency, accessible to each of us, is the sun protection system. Photo: Avenida Alemania, bioclimatic pergola M-LINE of company MANEZH In particular, facade blinds are the best solution to protect window openings, facades and other large glazing from the sun. This outdoor sun protection system with rotary and lifting lamellas is characterized by high thermal insulation properties: up to 97% of the thermal energy is dissipated on the surface of the system and remains outside the room/ Thus, the façade blinds reduce the temperature of the air inside the room to 5-7 ° C and allow to reduce the cost of air conditioning. Another system is the external wind-resistant (9 points on the Beaufort scale) fabric blinds Screen Spectra ZIP - the optimal solution for shading horizontal and vertical glazed areas of winter gardens, greenhouses, verandas, loggias, facades of buildings, as well as for protection from the sun, wind, dust, insects, frontal and side openings of terraces and arbors, window and door openings. The system also has high thermal insulation properties, allowing only 5-10% of thermal energy to get to the room. Photo: winter garden with Screen Spectra SKY systems of company MANEZH; Safari Garden restaurant, Screen Spectra ZIP systems of company MANEZH; Office of Renault Screen Spectra System ZIP of company MANEZH SunShield system is a protection of surfaces with a non-standard configuration against the sun, regardless of the plane of their location. It has high heat-insulating properties, it is when a considerable part of the thermal energy is dissipated on the surface of the system, remaining outside the room. Photo: Interpipe, Sunshield of company MANEZH; Tref Cinema Cafe, Sunshield of company MANEZH Awnings are also popular. They are used for shading terraces, balconies, show-windows, window openings and entrance doors. A simple and reliable design is also used as an element of aesthetic design of facades of buildings. The Gloria is a stationary tension tent system which is used to protect the open areas of cafes, restaurants, hotels, private houses and pools from the sun. Functional and robust construction allows to cover the area up to 30 m2. The developed tension system allows quick and easy installation/dismantling of the tent. The variants of tent system with manual and automatic control are also available. Tent systems and awnings cut off up to 90% of ultraviolet radiation, and also significantly reduce the air temperature in a hot summer day. Photo: restaurant Breeze, Sail Gloria of company MANEZH; Sail Gloria on the roof of company MANEZH Energy Efficiency in Urbanism and Architecture One of the most important questions of energy efficiency is its implementation in urbanism and architecture because about 40% of all world energy is consumed by buildings. Mass urbanization helps to solve some problems, but immediately entails the others - including environmental degradation and lack of landscaping in the cities. For this reason, there is an increasing need to create an architecture that exists in harmony with nature and does not harm it. Energy-efficient buildings, new or after reconstruction, can be defined as buildings that are designed to provide a significant reduction in energy requirements for heating and cooling, regardless of the energy and equipment that will be taken for heating or cooling. Energy efficiency throughout the life cycle of a building is the most important goal of sustainable architecture. Architects use many different passive and active methods to reduce the energy needs of buildings and increase their ability to capture or generate their own energy. One of the new significant objects of the French architect Jean Nouvel was the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, which opened its doors to visitors at the end of 2017. Photo: Luc Boegly, Sergio Grazia A spectacular openwork dome was built for this building, protecting the museum from the sun. Considering the hot climate in the Middle East, solving the problem of overheating by intelligent engineering was very important. The dome of the Louvre allows to protect the building from significant overheating, while not preventing the daylight. All thanks to the aluminum profile elements, the thickness of which depended on insolation: less where the sun less hit the surface of the dome during the day. The shadow from the dome improves the microclimate, and also increases the energy efficiency of each of the 55 buildings of the complex, because the energy requirement for cooling the complex is significantly reduced. And among the museum buildings pass water channels - this is also done for the competent regulation of the microclimate. Residential building, Covert House, in one of the central areas of London was designed as a cascade of light pipes. Outside, the house was lined with mirror panels, inside architects from the DSDHA studio left a bare concrete texture. Sunken courtyards of the house fill every room with natural light, always providing residents with a direct visual connection with the garden and the sky above their heads. Photo: Christoffer Rudquist Heat recovery systems, rainwater collection and solar panels provide environmental performance that exceeds Code 4 in accordance with Passivhaus standards. Thanks to the high-quality implementation of energy efficiency systems, this project was shortlisted by the prestigious RIBA award in the nomination “House of the Year”. The Philharmonic on the Elbe in Hamburg is not only remarkable for its unique architecture from the Swiss bureau Herzog & de Meron. The fact is that the Guardian Glass engineering solution for glazing the facade was implemented here, and Gartner developed all the facade elements. Architects chose Guardian SunGuard® Solar Light Blue 52 magnetron sputtered glass. Photo: Iwan Baan Its peculiarity is sun-spraying, which provides transmittance of visible light by 47%. With the help of this glass, it was possible to increase the energy efficiency of the building, as it has a low solar factor - 44%. Moreover, this indicator helps to reduce the requirements for the air conditioning system of the building and control the temperature inside it. In the projects of the Vietnamese architect Vo Trong Nghia, nature is given a dominant role. His structures are similar to huge flower pots: plants occupy the maximum possible space and become not only decoration, but also a functional part of the house. All the buildings of Vo Trong Nghia have one goal: to return a person to the natural world. This feature is part of Vo Trong Nghia Architects ideology. An excellent example of this approach was the renovation of the dilapidated residential building “Breathing House”, which can safely be considered as a “green renovation”. The fact is that the facade is completely hidden behind steel bars that are braided by plants. Greenery protects both the building itself and the residents from the sun, also due to this the house absorbs carbon dioxide and thus reduces the air temperature around. Photo: Hiroyuki Oki Another famous author of green architecture is Italian architect Stefano Boeri. He got well-deserved fame after the construction of green skyscrapers with vertical landscaping. Initially, according to his project, the residential complex Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest ital.) was built in Milan. These are two high-rise buildings, the terraces of which are covered with greenery. Trees, flowers and herbs are planted there - about a thousand species of plants were used during the building of the object, and the care of greenery was entrusted to a professional company to achieve a complete composition during exploitation. Photo: Sergiy Zaburaniy According to the architects idea, with the help of such houses as Bosco Verticale, the city will get more insects, birds and small flora. But most importantly, green spaces absorb carbon dioxide and filter little particles of dust in the air, which directly affects the softness of the climate and the temperature of the air around. A green oasis, a comfortable living environment and human activity are created. Already, Stefano Boeri is developing entire cities with vertical landscaping in China. Several of his projects in China are already implemented. Norman Foster also creates projects focusing on energy efficiency and this directly affects even architecture. The unusual shape of the City Hall, nicknamed by the Londoners egg-house, allowed to reduce the surface of the building. Due to this, it saves more energy. Foster is trying to bring energy efficiency not only to the modern architecture. The most high-profile project is the restoration of the dome on the Reichstag. It rises above the historic facade and consists of 360 mirror panels that are regulated by a reflector. Depending on the time of day, the mirrors rotate so that more natural light penetrates into the meeting room under the dome. Thanks to this dome, the Reichstag has become an energy-efficient building. In the reconstruction of the modernist project Ansty Plum of the 1960s, architects restored the original details of the house and increased its energy efficiency. Electricity consumption decreased by 80%. Photo: Brotherton Lock & Rachael Smith As you can see, the principles of energy efficiency set the tone for all spheres of human life, including the architecture. In our hands the future of our planet and how we use its resources depends only on us. Today, in many countries it is impossible to build non-energy-efficient buildings and therefore we hope that our material helped you learn more about this trend and inspired you to use it in your life.

Of course, the development of mankind has led to the technological progress. At the same time, the progress has its own price and consequences that can change the life and comfort of every person.

The problem is also important for Ukraine. The fact is that the energy intensity of Ukrainian GDP is 3-5 times higher than similar indicators for developed countries. This is too much, that’s why engineering solutions and actions are needed right now, but not tomorrow or sometime in the future.

We and the company MANEZH, a leading Ukrainian developer and manufacturer of sun protection systems for facades of buildings, hotel terraces, restaurants, private houses and outdoor areas, cannot stay away from the determinative trend of our time and, confidently following the times, share our knowledge in the field of energy efficiency and options for how to mitigate the human impact on our planet.

Photo: office of company MANEZH

Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency is, first of all, the efficient use of energy resources, the less use of energy to ensure the same level of energy supply for buildings or technological processes in production.

They started to talk about energy efficiency seriously in the middle of the last century. The first mention dates back to 1944, when the Ukrainian scientist Volodymyr Vernadsky presented his work “A few words about the noosphere”, where he examined the human influence on the biosphere.

To avoid the self-destruction of mankind, it was necessary to reconsider the attitude to the environment. So the concept of the noosphere was introduced – this is the state of the biosphere under the conditions of reasonable exploitation and human activity. 40 years later, namely in 1987, the US Department of Energy prepared a report to the president, where energy security was first publicly mentioned. And there were reasons for this because by that time it was impossible not to note the rapid development of energy and its negative impact on the nature. Ten years later, the Kyoto Protocol appeared to limit greenhouse gas emissions. But, despite all this, the problems of excessive anthropogenic pressure on the environment remain relevant to this day.

Moreover, the charge for excessive consumption of resources are growing like loan commitments. And every year the consequences are more and more noticeable.

In the new century, the concept of global warming is relevant for any part of the Earth. It provoked the melting of glaciers, and this process can affect not only the climate, but also the geographical map of the world.

Right now, the melting of Antarctic glaciers is slowing down the global warming process. This is the conclusion of USA scientists and added new changes to the climate model. The ice of the Antarctic delays in time a critical increase of the Earth’s temperature by 2 ° C and now, according to their calculations, a similar destructive effect is expected not in 2053, but in 2065. At the same time, the world ocean level may rise 25 cm higher than expected in 2100, that means that water will take a part of the coastal territories.

The developed part of humanity is aware of the problems and understands the necessity to search for other, more effective ways of being on the planet. It is not only about rational consumption, but also the application of various effective engineering solutions.

How to stay energy-efficient with sun protection systems?

Energy efficiency can bring significant economic, social and environmental benefits. Proper efficiency policies can enable the world to achieve more than 40% of the emission reductions needed to achieve the climate goals even without sophisticated technology.

One of the most important approaches in the field of energy efficiency, accessible to each of us, is the sun protection system.

Photo: Avenida Alemania, bioclimatic pergola M-LINE of company MANEZH

In particular, facade blinds are the best solution to protect window openings, facades and other large glazing from the sun. This outdoor sun protection system with rotary and lifting lamellas is characterized by high thermal insulation properties: up to 97% of the thermal energy is dissipated on the surface of the system and remains outside the room/ Thus, the façade blinds reduce the temperature of the air inside the room to 5-7 ° C and allow to reduce the cost of air conditioning.

Another system is the external wind-resistant (9 points on the Beaufort scale) fabric blinds Screen Spectra ZIP – the optimal solution for shading horizontal and vertical glazed areas of winter gardens, greenhouses, verandas, loggias, facades of buildings, as well as for protection from the sun, wind, dust, insects, frontal and side openings of terraces and arbors, window and door openings.

The system also has high thermal insulation properties, allowing only 5-10% of thermal energy to get to the room.

Photo: winter garden with Screen Spectra SKY systems of company MANEZH; Safari Garden restaurant, Screen Spectra ZIP systems of company MANEZH; Office of Renault Screen Spectra System ZIP of company MANEZH

SunShield system is a protection of surfaces with a non-standard configuration against the sun, regardless of the plane of their location. It has high heat-insulating properties, it is when a considerable part of the thermal energy is dissipated on the surface of the system, remaining outside the room.

Photo: Interpipe, Sunshield of company MANEZH; Tref Cinema Cafe, Sunshield of company MANEZH

Awnings are also popular. They are used for shading terraces, balconies, show-windows, window openings and entrance doors. A simple and reliable design is also used as an element of aesthetic design of facades of buildings.

The Gloria is a stationary tension tent system which is used to protect the open areas of cafes, restaurants, hotels, private houses and pools from the sun. Functional and robust construction allows to cover the area up to 30 m2. The developed tension system allows quick and easy installation/dismantling of the tent.

The variants of tent system with manual and automatic control are also available.

Tent systems and awnings cut off up to 90% of ultraviolet radiation, and also significantly reduce the air temperature in a hot summer day.

Photo: restaurant Breeze, Sail Gloria of company MANEZH; Sail Gloria on the roof of company MANEZH

Energy Efficiency in Urbanism and Architecture

One of the most important questions of energy efficiency is its implementation in urbanism and architecture because about 40% of all world energy is consumed by buildings.

Mass urbanization helps to solve some problems, but immediately entails the others – including environmental degradation and lack of landscaping in the cities. For this reason, there is an increasing need to create an architecture that exists in harmony with nature and does not harm it.

Energy-efficient buildings, new or after reconstruction, can be defined as buildings that are designed to provide a significant reduction in energy requirements for heating and cooling, regardless of the energy and equipment that will be taken for heating or cooling.

Energy efficiency throughout the life cycle of a building is the most important goal of sustainable architecture. Architects use many different passive and active methods to reduce the energy needs of buildings and increase their ability to capture or generate their own energy.

One of the new significant objects of the French architect Jean Nouvel was the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, which opened its doors to visitors at the end of 2017.

Photo: Luc Boegly, Sergio Grazia

A spectacular openwork dome was built for this building, protecting the museum from the sun. Considering the hot climate in the Middle East, solving the problem of overheating by intelligent engineering was very important.

The dome of the Louvre allows to protect the building from significant overheating, while not preventing the daylight. All thanks to the aluminum profile elements, the thickness of which depended on insolation: less where the sun less hit the surface of the dome during the day. The shadow from the dome improves the microclimate, and also increases the energy efficiency of each of the 55 buildings of the complex, because the energy requirement for cooling the complex is significantly reduced. And among the museum buildings pass water channels – this is also done for the competent regulation of the microclimate.

Residential building, Covert House, in one of the central areas of London was designed as a cascade of light pipes. Outside, the house was lined with mirror panels, inside architects from the DSDHA studio left a bare concrete texture. Sunken courtyards of the house fill every room with natural light, always providing residents with a direct visual connection with the garden and the sky above their heads.

Photo: Christoffer Rudquist

Heat recovery systems, rainwater collection and solar panels provide environmental performance that exceeds Code 4 in accordance with Passivhaus standards. Thanks to the high-quality implementation of energy efficiency systems, this project was shortlisted by the prestigious RIBA award in the nomination “House of the Year”.

The Philharmonic on the Elbe in Hamburg is not only remarkable for its unique architecture from the Swiss bureau Herzog & de Meron. The fact is that the Guardian Glass engineering solution for glazing the facade was implemented here, and Gartner developed all the facade elements. Architects chose Guardian SunGuard® Solar Light Blue 52 magnetron sputtered glass.

Photo: Iwan Baan

Its peculiarity is sun-spraying, which provides transmittance of visible light by 47%. With the help of this glass, it was possible to increase the energy efficiency of the building, as it has a low solar factor – 44%. Moreover, this indicator helps to reduce the requirements for the air conditioning system of the building and control the temperature inside it.

In the projects of the Vietnamese architect Vo Trong Nghia, nature is given a dominant role. His structures are similar to huge flower pots: plants occupy the maximum possible space and become not only decoration, but also a functional part of the house. All the buildings of Vo Trong Nghia have one goal: to return a person to the natural world.

This feature is part of Vo Trong Nghia Architects’ ideology. An excellent example of this approach was the renovation of the dilapidated residential building “Breathing House”, which can safely be considered as a “green renovation”. The fact is that the facade is completely hidden behind steel bars that are braided by plants. Greenery protects both the building itself and the residents from the sun, also due to this the house absorbs carbon dioxide and thus reduces the air temperature around.

Photo: Hiroyuki Oki

Another famous author of “green architecture” is Italian architect Stefano Boeri. He got well-deserved fame after the construction of green skyscrapers with vertical landscaping. Initially, according to his project, the residential complex Bosco Verticale (“Vertical Forest” ital.) was built in Milan. These are two high-rise buildings, the terraces of which are covered with greenery. Trees, flowers and herbs are planted there – about a thousand species of plants were used during the building of the object, and the care of greenery was entrusted to a professional company to achieve a complete composition during exploitation.

Photo: Sergiy Zaburaniy

According to the architect’s idea, with the help of such houses as Bosco Verticale, the city will get more insects, birds and small flora. But most importantly, green spaces absorb carbon dioxide and filter little particles of dust in the air, which directly affects the softness of the climate and the temperature of the air around. A green oasis, a comfortable living environment and human activity are created.

Already, Stefano Boeri is developing entire cities with vertical landscaping in China. Several of his projects in China are already implemented.

Norman Foster also creates projects focusing on energy efficiency and this directly affects even architecture. The unusual shape of the City Hall, nicknamed by the Londoners “egg-house”, allowed to reduce the surface of the building. Due to this, it saves more energy.

Foster is trying to bring energy efficiency not only to the modern architecture. The most high-profile project is the restoration of the dome on the Reichstag. It rises above the historic facade and consists of 360 mirror panels that are regulated by a reflector. Depending on the time of day, the mirrors rotate so that more natural light penetrates into the meeting room under the dome. Thanks to this dome, the Reichstag has become an energy-efficient building.

In the reconstruction of the modernist project Ansty Plum of the 1960s, architects restored the original details of the house and increased its energy efficiency. Electricity consumption decreased by 80%.

Photo: Brotherton Lock & Rachael Smith

As you can see, the principles of energy efficiency set the tone for all spheres of human life, including the architecture. In our hands the future of our planet and how we use its resources depends only on us.

Today, in many countries it is impossible to build non-energy-efficient buildings and therefore we hope that our material helped you learn more about this trend and inspired you to use it in your life.