Glass curtain walls and large windows have been popular in building design for decades.<\/p>\n
In addition to esthetic considerations, there are other important benefits. Large panels of glass bring natural light into interior spaces, reducing energy demands for artificial lighting. Offering a view of the outside world also results in measurable improvements<\/a> to the health and well-being of occupants.<\/p>\n
Environmental commentator Lloyd Alter has been particularly critical about the prolific use of glass. He has accused<\/a> architects of \u201claziness\u201d for \u201csimply outsourcing the design to a curtain wall supplier,\u201d and has called<\/a> glass curtain wall, \u201can esthetic as well as a thermal crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glass manufacturing and industry recycling efforts were outlined in last week\u2019s<\/a> Climate and 麻豆传媒高清ion. However, the challenge remains to calculate the level of embodied carbon in a finished glass component when so few product-specific EPDs exist.<\/p>\n
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According to Finance ClimAct, an organization providing tools to integrate climate issues into investment decisions, the GHG emissions from the entire French glass sector<\/a> represent 3.0 per cent of the country\u2019s industrial emissions. Within that, the production of flat glass used for both the building and automotive sectors is only 16 per cent, or 0.48 per cent overall. In contrast, steel<\/a> represents 22 per cent of industrial GHGs, and cement<\/a> 12.5 per cent.<\/p>\n
Advanced window technology is not always considered when comparative studies of wall structures are conducted. One such study<\/a>, undertaken by Ha\/f Research Studio at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto, is an example.<\/p>\n
Many of these directly affect the study\u2019s findings as they relate to windows.<\/p>\n
Decisions to reduce window-to-wall ratios in commercial buildings must be based on properly conducted, objective analysis of window unit design versus solid wall structures, as conducted on residential walls<\/a>.\u00a0 Otherwise, shrinking the number of windows, or installing multiple small ones instead of large ones, may be ill-founded.<\/p>\n