Here at Contrasol, we are experts in architectural solar shading, but if it’s not something you’re familiar with, it is a way to manage the solar heat and light that enters an indoor space. This helps to ensure coolness in the summer when the sun is at its highest and allows warmness in the winter when the sun is lower on the horizon. This helps improve the carbon footprint and energy efficiency of your home.
We offer a range of solar shading products, such as shutters, brise soleil, and canopies along with bespoke solutions and architectural metal work, our design team are on hand to accommodate your property’s unique requirements.
Let’s take a look at some more of the benefits of solar shading:
Healthy Indoor Environment
Having solar shading in place that helps to boost thermal comfort, improve air quality and expand access to natural daylight and this all can contribute towards a healthier indoor environment. More access to natural light has been proven to improve an individual’s mental wellbeing over time, which can have a positive impact on other areas of their life.
Ensuring that your property is a safe, comfortable temperature at all times of the year is necessary too for various health reasons. Being consistently too hot or cold during certain periods can have an impact on the body’s susceptibility to illness and the immune system. Zero Carbon Hub estimates 20% of England homes overheat in summer and it’s thought that ‘solar shading to be one of the most cost-effective solutions to tackle increasing occurrence of overheating’.
Being too hot at home can link to eczema, lethargy, poor concentration, disturbed sleep and fatigue.
Improves Glazing
If your property has double glazing, solar shading has been shown to significantly improve its performance i.e keeping spaces cool/warm and limiting glare. Incoming solar heat has an increased rate of blockage by using shading too. Therefore it is sometimes possible to reduce the specification and cost of your glazing while designing a new property when integrating solar shading into the design.
A large amount of heat lost from a building is via its windows and solar shading with shutters provides an extra layer of insulation to prevent heat from escaping and needing to use extra heating devices. Substantial energy savings can be made. Shutters can also provide an additional acoustic benefit reducing noise pollution in your home.
External shading prevents temperatures from rising to uncomfortable levels in the summer season, which helps to save energy, save costs on cooling technology and keep your home comfortable.
And the same applies to glare from sunlight, which means shading can protect fixtures and furnishings from bleaching and sun damage. This can limit money spent on replacing furniture that’s been damaged by fading and discolouring, as daylight levels can be maximised and controlled.
Environmental Impact
With shading in place, solar radiation can be reduced and limit carbon emissions. The NEF Solar Shading Impact Report found that shading was part of ‘reducing the proportion of incoming solar radiation that is absorbed by internal objects and reradiated as thermal radiation i.e. greenhouse effect.’
There’s an ever-increasing awareness of environmental issues which we’re thrilled to be a part of. If we are going to make climate change progress on a global level then we all need to collectively act.
Get in Touch
For more information about solar shading, get in touch with our experienced team of professionals for more information and advice about aesthetic, engineered solutions to improve the solar performance in your property.
We are one of the few solar shading companies in the UK that can properly unite all of these specifications into an integrated, high-quality design.
