ENVIRONMENTAL SOUNDNESS OF MICRO MIRROR BASED ACTIVE WINDOWS

Summary In active windows micro mirror arrays between the layers of conventional glazing allow a fast and only partial blind of selected areas of a window. Glare can be effectively avoided while daylight use is kept to a maximum. In contrast to external sun blinds active windows are supposed to be maintenance-free and thus applicable also in high-rise buildings. An analysis of the environmental soundness of active windows is challenging as active windows are not yet in a commercial stage and the energy demand over the use stage depends on a variety of factors such as control strategy, building design and local climate requiring an illumination and energetic simulation. An important advantage is the lower material demand which in case of aluminum is lower by several orders in the final product compared to typical external sun blinds making a contribution to dematerialization.