Foreword form the President
 2014 is announcing very promising for the solar shading industry. The European Commission is continuously making efforts to guide the member states in constructing modern buildings or renovating their building stock with focus on an increased energy performance. As figures still show buildings consume today more than 40% of the total energy consumption (+400 Billion €/y!), it is obvious that the building industry can contribute a lot in energy savings.
Buildings becoming more and more energy performant also do change the construction practice, such as the use of higher insulation levels in the transparent and opaque parts of the building but also the attention to a stricter airtightness. The focus in low energy buildings will therefore shift from heating needs towards cooling needs due to more and more overheating problems. This is where solar control comes in.
Our industry is also shifting from solar shading products to dynamic solar control solutions. A combination of external and internal solar shading will reduce the cooling and heating load. Similarly, the dynamic control will help to optimize the entrance of daylight and so contribute in reducing the artificial lighting cost.
No doubt that this evolution will place our industry in the next gear. Our technology shall evolve to an essential building technology for the coming building revolution.
Plenty of good opportunities and challenges to be dealt with, and the results will be great.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !
Peter Winters, President of ES-SO, the European Solar-Shading Organization
ES-SO Website's new look !
 ES-SO starts the new year full of energy !
ES-SO Newsletter's edition of January 2014 gives a hint on the look and feel of the redesigned website. At www.es-so.com visitors will find more insight information on the solar shading solutions and their benefits, the science behind the technology and ES-SO's involvement in activities and networks at European level.
In addition, this Newsletter, addressed to all interested building stakeholders, draws the attention to hot topics related to solar shading.
To receive this newsletter, please subscribe on www.es-so.com/new/newsletters
New Years' greetings
Ann Van Eycken, Secretary General
The Climate Change Blame Game
That's how the ever alert Guardian labeled the COP 19 conference recently organized in Warsaw by the UN. The COP19's eleventh-hour agreement may not satisfy everybody, but it did break the feared deadlock and opened some new perspectives.
Read more in the article of Dick Dolmans
New child safety requirements for internal solar shading
 The EU Decision of 28th July 2011 mandated CEN to incorporate new requirements on child safety into the standard EN 13120 on internal blinds, in particular sections 8 and 15. This work also required the writing of two test method standards - EN 16433 and EN 16434.
The Spanish solar shading industry ready to unite
ES-SO took in October the initiative to organise in Barcelona a special event to meet with the Spanish solar shading industry. First Prof. Servando Álvarez, University of Seville, explained how solar shading is positioned in the Spanish building code implementing the EPBD. See his presentation on http://www.es-so.com/information/presentations, national. The technical session was followed by a companies' networking event. Today ES-SO is very happy to announce the establishment of a Spanish solar shading GRUP 7 within ASEFAVE - the Spanish manufacturers for curtain walls and windows, see http://www.asefave.org.
Upcoming events 2014
The IEECB'14 conference 2/3 April 2014 Frankfurt
The 8th International Conference Improving Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings (IEECB'14) will take place during Light+Building, the world's leading trade fair for Architecture and Technology, 30 March to 4 April 2014, in Frankfurt, Germany.
News from the scientific world
Ph.D thesis on summer comfort, Flanders-Belgium, December 2013
"Design support for energy efficiency and summer comfort of dwellings in early design phases: A framework for a design tool adapted to the architects' practice in Flanders", PhD thesis by Lieve Weijtjens - Download.
The U.S. BTO-Building Technologies Office energy performance program
The U.S. BTO Office announced up to $1.6 million in new funding to develop a program to rate and certify the energy performance of both residential and commercial window attachments.
The Technology Roadmap: Energy Efficient Building Envelopes, a publication of the International Energy Agency, December 2013
ES-SO Position Paper regarding energy labelling within the framework of the Ecodesign Directive
The Ecodesign Directive working plan 2012-2014 established the list of product groups for which a preparatory study should be launched. And window products are in the top priority list. More info on the Ecodesign and Energy Labeling Directives www.es-so.com/new/eu-directives
ES-SO stated in its Position Paper that windows and shading are to be considered for an energy label. See on www.es-so.com/science/papers
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