YOU are the secret weapon

Exterior blinds, particularly those that run directly in front of the glazing, are high performance products, able to significantly and positively impact (lower) a buildings energy use, subsequently reducing energy bills and cutting carbon emissions. This is all said of course providing the blinds are in the correct position at the right time, which more often than not they aren't.

For example, if you don’t lower an external blind on a hot summers day until the afternoon it will have minimal effect as the suns heat will already have transmitted into the building, causing internal temperatures to significantly rise. Therefore lowering the blind in the afternoon will not reduce current internal temperatures, as the heat is already trapped inside the building, it will simply block additional incoming solar radiation.

Blinds in the summer do not lower internal temperatures, they stop them rising, so they need to be lowered before the sun hits the façade.

The correct positioning of blinds to reap the rewards of lower energy bills and reduced carbon emissions therefore lies in the hand of the external blind operator. In the majority of businesses this will be the employee i.e you. Understanding and having in place an effective summer and winter shading strategy for blinds which is implemented by the operator of the blind is essential.

The Carbon Trust estimate that ‘employees could save UK businesses and public bodies £500m and two million tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of all the households in Birmingham’ through simple behavioural change such as remembering to switch lights and computers off over night, keeping windows closed when the heating is on and of course putting blinds in the right position.

Behavioural change doesn’t cost – it saves. The BBSA (British Blind and Shutter Association) in a recent document looking at behavioural change in action, details of how 11 schools in the USA embarked upon behavioural change techniques / energy conservation measures over a two year period which included ‘closing the blinds’ resulting in a combined saving over the 2 year cycle of £435,000 on their energy bills.

Furthermore, the European Solar Shading Organisation (ESSO) in a study into the environmental protection potential with the use of solar shading estimates that 111 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved annually in Europe by the correct use of solar shading. Roughly split this results in a saving of 80 million tonnes by reducing the use of air conditioning and 31 million tonnes by lowering demands for heating.

Having a shading strategy in place is crucial to ensure that external blinds deliver the energy saving benefits they are able to and have been incorporated for.

See our related artice: Summer and Winter Shading Strategy for best practice blind positioning.