Optimizing automated shading systems for enhanced energy performance in cold climate zones: Strategies, savings, and comfort

Enhancing urban sustainability requires innovative strategies to improve energy performance while maintaining occupant comfort in new and existing buildings. Buildings located in cold climate zones with high glazing-to-wall ratios often face unwanted solar gain and heat loss that, in turn, negatively impact building energy performance. Though automated shading systems effectively reduce excessive indoor solar gain in warm climates, a research gap exists regarding their ability to enhance building energy performance in heating-dominant climates. This paper investigates automated shading implementation for cold climate zones and develops a novel cold climate optimized sensorless control strategy for interior roller shades. A field study was conducted to assess the impact of roller shade operation on indoor thermal conditions. Results from the field study showed that the prototype roller shades operating on the developed control strategy reduced daytime indoor peak temperatures during the summer season to 26.4 degrees C +/- 0.5 degrees C from 30.0 degrees C +/- 1.9 degrees C and 28.5 degrees C +/- 1.2 degrees C for the unshaded and shaded static operation baseline scenarios, respectively. During winter season tests, shade deployment reduced the overnight indoor cooling rate from 0.60 degrees C/hr +/- 0.30 degrees C/hr and 0.42 degrees C/hr +/- 0.18 degrees C/hr. A mathematical model was also developed to estimate shading system energy performance based on user-defined building specifications and weather-related variables. It was found that automated shading systems are suitable for use as a green retrofit strategy for cold climate zone buildings. The technology exhibited a payback period range of approximately 5-15 years, depending on factors such as glazing type, glazing orientation, solar exposure, and local climate conditions. Findings from both the simulation and prototype field study support the use of cold climate-optimized automated shading systems to improve overall building energy performance -reducing both building heating and cooling-related energy consumption.