Glass building and sustainability

It 's the most well-known material in' Modern Architecture, who also understands very little of Architecture, is an ancient product, but that has spanned the centuries gaining new jobs and improving those that already he is recognized, it can take a multitude of forms and be used in various fields of modern industry, as an indispensable component for the functioning of many new technologies: we are talking about the glass.

In buildings the glass is mainly used, in the form of flat sheets in partition systems, external (fixtures and curtain walls) and internal (movable), associated with coating systems and assembly of the plates themselves to obtain different types of performance required by designers, in relation to the functions to accommodate and safety standards and working to ensure.

Today, with modern production technology, combined with methods and design rules that favor and impose environmental sustainability of buildings, from design to production, right up to the end of life of the building, the glass more than ever proposed as the main product for the construction of modern buildings, functional, energy-performance and environmentally sustainable. But in what ways and how the glass can contribute to the achievement of modern buildings and sustainable?

Use the glass to achieve LEED Certification

From this point of view, a good guide can be compared with the assessments that accompany the Certification LEED certification of the environmental sustainability of a building throughout its life cycle, created and distributed in the USA with the 'U.S. Green Building Council, and managed in Italy by GBC Italy, a company promoted by the Trentino Technology District. This certification, which has markings on the base to Platinum, is issued after a careful analysis of a building, since his project, considering a number of factors and issues. A first issue is that of 'use of energy resources of a building, in order to optimize and reduce fuel consumption and energy savings.

From this point of view to enclosures made of glass is sought that are able to reduce inputs of solar energy in the summer and to prevent the dispersal of the internal heat in the winter. With regard to the control of the heat generated by solar radiation, in the catalog of Pilkington , international production company, stand out the low-emissivity glass Optitherm and K Glass or glass-selective solar control range Suncool, another important reality international level also, the Saint Gobain Glass Group-Isover Saint Gobain, proposes, among many other products in our catalog, glass SGG Planitherm One, with low-emissivity, and SGG Climatop Max, extra clear thermal insulation or reinforced plastic for triple insulating glass units.

Concerning the production of clean energy chapter of the LEED system that analyzes the maximization in the production of solar, wind, geothermal, low-impact hydro and their own consumption, but this is an area where the glass is widely used: in fact known and increasingly popular solar panels, thermal and photovoltaic systems, using glass as a key component, not to mention the special applications that see the use of glass curtain wall with integrated photovoltaic cells.

With regard to the chapter on 'use of recyclable materials and products in the area adjacent, evaluation criteria that wants to reward the choice of materials that do not deplete our natural heritage and that do not require excessive transportation costs, is well known for some time as the Glass is a recyclable material, if not the symbol of recyclable materials. Both industries mentioned above, Pilkington and Saint Gobain Glass, using advanced protocols for the recovery and reuse of materials production, which highlights the sustainable vocation.

The last chapter of evaluation on the quality of life in an environment, pointing emphasis on the quality of living spaces and, consequently, the quality of life in those areas. The quality of natural light, a factor that affects both energy saving, impacting on reducing the use of artificial light sources, and physical well-being, because the natural light has various beneficial effects on the nervous system and the body in general, is a LEED certification of the indices which put a lot of attention.

Among the products able to ensure a correct supply of light in the catalog Pilkington Optifloat stands out the line, which ensures a light transmission of 90%, and the line Optiwhite, with which you may reach a level of 92% light transmission. Similarly, in the catalog of Sant Gobain Glass stand the line SGG Planilux, able to provide a light transmission up to 90%, and the line SGG Diamant, which guarantees a light transmission of 91% even up to thicknesses of 12 mm.