Smart louvres / Glass cladding / Shutters
Greenhouse effect: for passive heating, and cooling
Currently, buildings are sometimes clad with 3 to 5 inches of polyurethane panels. (Or polystyrene, in the case of the UK Grenfell Tower/s). As a measure to combat climate change. While insulation panels do help retain more heat (in winter) and postpone excessive heat gain (in summer), they do not of themselves add to any natural heating or cooling.
This project - in further development - will explore the feasibility, heating savings, and costs, of some kind of "smart louvres" or "mini-glasshouse cladding", and "shutters". To achieve:
- passive heating in winter (with no condensation)
- passive cooling in summer
- with convective ventilation
- (?) for modular installation (?)
- in retrofit / new construction
- with application to Cambridge / UK buildings
Like http://www.sonnenschutz.com.au
Or the principles at the Centre for Alternative Technology (Wales) http://info.cat.org.uk/questions/wise/how-was-natural-passive-stack-and-mechanical-ventilation-used-wise/
Do you know of any firms working on this?
Or what the (theoretical) maximum heating (and cooling) that might be possible with such a system, and (realistic) specified thermal mass?
