Environmental Benefit
Solar Control Glass Saves Energy
Residential and non-residential buildings that use more
energy than necessary to stay cool are a major source
of unnecessary CO2 emissions.
In March 2007, EU heads of state
and government confirmed the
need to save annually around
300 million tonnes of CO2 from
buildings by 2020.
Policy makers could achieve
between 5% and 25% of that
target by promoting greater use
of solar control glass in existing
and new buildings in Europe –
ensuring that less energy is
required to keep the interiors
cool.
This technology exists today.
The EU and its Member States
can use it to help achieve their
own targets, by acting to
ensure that more solar control
glass is installed.
The Energy Performance of
Buildings Directive requires all
Member States of the EU to
improve their building regulations
every five years. Encouraging
greater use of solar control
glass should be a top priority.
The potential for solar control
glass to cut CO2 emissions from
buildings has been analysed
by the Dutch scientific institute,
TNO, in a study that is technically
rigorous and conservative. The
results are presented in this
brochure. The study concludes
that between 15 and 85 million
tonnes of CO2 emissions could
be avoided annually by the year
2020 if solar control glass were
used optimally.
Cooling Buildings without Warming the Planet
Air-conditioning in large buildings is a necessity today. The demand for it will
increase into the future, due not only to the increasing numbers of people
working in large buildings, but also because of rising external temperatures
and higher expectations of comfort.
Air-conditioning makes a positive
contribution to the working
conditions experienced by Europe’s
workforce, to the economy,
and to quality of life. The
trick is to keep its overall CO2
output to a minimum.
This can be achieved by increasing
the efficiency of air-conditioning
systems. Manufacturers
are investing in this with admirable
results.
The other important thing we
can do is make sure that air conditioning
systems don’t work
overtime fighting the sun’s natural
heat when this can be avoided.
This is where solar control glass
comes in. It lets in the sunlight
but keeps out much of the heat.
Use of such glass saves huge
amounts of energy, as the study
we present in this brochure
demonstrates.
What can governments do to cut CO2 emissions?
- Encourage and, where necessary, require the use of solar control glass in national building regulations for new construction.
- Encourage or require retrofitting of existing buildings with solar control glass by fiscal or legislative means.
- Provide economic and fiscal incentives to both users and manufacturers of solar control glass to promote better market uptake of these energy-saving products.
- Ensure that all relevant public buildings are fitted with solar control glass.
- Organise information and communication campaigns on the benefits of using solar control glass.