Aesthetically pleasing, flexible and lightweight, the solar shading provides a quick-fix and inexpensive solution to offices and classrooms that suffer from excessive solar gain. It helps maintain room temperatures at around 24˚C – reducing the use of air-conditioning units and so reducing energy bills and CO2 emissions – as total solar gain is limited to 35 W/m2 (in accordance with Part L2 of the Building Regulations).
The innovative PV panels generate electricity in a clean, quiet, renewable way and simply slot into any System10 curtain walling frame where infill panels would normally be situated. The user can then generate electricity for export to the National Grid and take advantage of preferential ‘feed-in’ tariffs for solar-generated electricity.
Bowater Architectural, sister company to Bowater Projects and the manufacturer of System10 Curtain Walling has calculated the effects of a PV installation (152m2) in London, subject to a mean annual temperature of 12˚C, and found that it would generate up to 6,697kWh in a year – and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced by 5,931kg.
System10 Curtain Walling offers U-Values ranging from 1.5 W/m2K, with 28mm glazing units, to a superb 1.0 W/m2K with 32mm triple-glazed units (both based on a 50mm mullion). It combines fully with either PVC-U or aluminium windows and doors so that buildings can be fully upgraded regardless of system requirements.
A full range of RAL colour options provides the complete choice of design finishes. Opening lights and doors are fully integrated; and a choice for frame-glazed and direct-glazed options is available – with direct glazing methods offering slimmer sightlines and reduced cost.
The company also offers a full drawing design service, taking schemes from design concept through to final specification. The system has been extensively tested at the industry recognised Wintech facility in line with Centre for Window and Cladding Technology (CWCT) test criteria.
