Investigating the Energy Efficiency, Environmental and Daylighting Performance of Coated Glazing

Abstract

Facades are a crucial interface between exterior and interior conditions and greatly influence the architectural quality of buildings. Glass plays an important role in the building envelope by providing daylight, views and ventilation and hence can contribute significantly to indoor environmental quality and impact occupants’ comfort and well-being. Glass also plays an important role in the energy balance of the envelope and hence in both energy loads and environmental performance of a building. In order to avoid high energy consumption, reduce environmental impact and increase the quality of the space selecting the appropriate size and type of glazing along with the orientation and shading based on the building’s function, the climatic conditions, site and occupants’ needs are a fundamental part of early design stage decisions and are difficult to change later on. The challenge is to improve the building quality by providing a balance between energy efficiency, comfort and saving resources. To reduce energy consumption through glazing taking into account the thermal insulating properties is insufficient, it is also necessary to consider the coatings impact on the physical properties of glass regarding radiation. Coatings are often used to improve the thermal insulation, solar control, acoustic insulation of glazing in order to reduce heat loss, maximize solar gains in winter and minimize it in summer and improve indoor environmental conditions. Multiple configurations of coatings are available on the market to date. The goal of our study is to determine the impact of coated glazing on the energy performance, daylighting and the environmental performance of buildings where occupants spend substantial time inside. This paper incorporates an integrated performance analysis method and presents an energy analysis, daylighting and a life cycle assessment (LCA) study of several coated glazing for patient rooms in Belgium.