Smart Glass can Vastly Increase a Building's Energy Efficiency

Building efficiency is becoming more and more popular and important for reducing waste energy and therefore carbon emissions. One of the most important and effective ways of increasing building efficiency is to control the amount of heat that exits or enters a building and therefore the need to use radiators or air conditioning units.

Smart glass offers a solution to heat entering or escaping via windows. The sunnier the day, the darker the glass becomes, and on darker, cooler days that glass becomes more transparent in order to allow more sunlight into the room.

The variable tinting effect of the glass will offer greater control over the light and heat that passes through the window, and therefore greater energy savings. Curtains or blinds are all or nothing, and are normally only drawn when the sunlight is too bright for comfort.

SageGlass, from Sage Electrochromics, is an example of smart glass currently available on the market. it can be programmed to change its tint automatically, in order to maintain a certain level of light. Or the tint can be manually changed at the push of a button.

By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com