External and internal shading have key roles in overheating battle

The crucial role solar shading has to play in keeping buildings cool in the face of climate change has been highlighted in a BBC News article.

In the piece, Dr Anna Mavrogianni, from University College London, states that buildings in the UK were designed to trap heat meaning ways of cooling need to be incorporated retrospectively.

Solar shading is featured as a way of doing this, with Dr Mavrogianni highlighting that external shading is more effective at preventing overheating than internal shading is.

However, Zoe De Grussa, the BBSA’s sustainability engineer and communications designer, has stressed that internal shading also has a key part to play in helping keep buildings cool.

Zoe explained: “In certain situations, it may be impossible to retrofit external shading because of the design of the façade and although internal shading is less effective than external shading certain internal shading products – that are more reflective – can prevent a significant amount of solar gain entering our buildings.

“When we tested the impact of internal and external shading products we found that more reflective internal shading products were able to reduce the internal operative temperature by 8 – 12 degrees C, which was approximately 70% of the temperature reduction provided by the external shading products tested.”

The importance of not relying on air conditioning as a means of cooling buildings due to the negative impact they have on the climate is also expressed.

Instead, the use passive cooling solutions such as solar shading should be encouraged.

Read the article on the BBC News website here.

Read more about the benefits of solar shading on the BBSA’s Shade It website.