Solar Shading Inside Out

A full day workshop dedicated to the challenges ahead for solar shading took place at the R+T 2012 leading world trade fair for solar protection systems, held annually in Stuttgart, Germany. As one of the invited plenary speakers, Marilyne Andersen provided new insights on how to address multiple performance objectives in terms of human comfort, climate considerations and technology by mitigating variations in our environment with a need for a well-controlled interior. Organized by the European Solar Shading Organization ( ES-SO ) and entitled 'Solar Shading Essential for Low Energy Buildings', the workshop's objective was to define a new vision for addressing performance questions, policy and communication issues for the next generation of sun protection systems. During her talk , Marilyne Andersen presented an overview of the state of the art and current research efforts in daylight-related well-being, health and performance and proposed a holistic and climate-based framework for assessing and rating even highly complex solar shading systems, derived from recent research outcomes presented at the last ASHRAE conference in Chicago, USA.