Light control manufacturer Lutron Electronics has partnered with Mermet, a manufacturer of solar screen fabrics, to introduce the Basketweave E Screen with KoolBlack technology at Greenbuild 2012 in San Francisco. The company has also announced its new Sensor Layout and Tuning Service to assure that wired or wireless Lutron daylight sensors and occupancy sensors help projects achieve energy-savings goals.
Conventional dark-colored shade fabrics absorb energy and increase the solar heat gain in the space, wasting energy and creating an uncomfortable environment. This limits the use of dark screen fabrics in green or sustainable building design where heat reflection is specified in a shading solution. The new KoolBlack technology solves this problem by utilizing innovative heat reflecting properties that enable the dark fabric to reflect more solar heat. The technology increases the energy efficiency of dark, solar-shade fabrics to levels comparable with light colors, reducing solar heat gain coefficients up to 23% and contributing to LEED certification. It provides exceptional glare control and allows
superior view through, comfortable work environments, and elegant street-side aesthetics while saving energy. Constructed in a 2 x 2 basket weave pattern and available in a wide array of colors, the new Basketweave E Screen with KoolBlack technology offers an ideal cost-saving solution for commercial automated shading applications.
In addition, installing occupancy sensors and daylight sensors can be an inexact science, and sensor fine-tuning is best performed after the space is fully occupied, furniture is in place, and the HVAC system is balanced to the environment. Projects that include the new Lutron Sensor Layout and Tuning Service offer building owners and facility managers the assurance that the Lutron-provided sensors will be installed and calibrated to perform as intended.
“Lutron has developed its Sensor Layout and Tuning Service to ensure that Lutron Lighting Energy Management Systems achieve their energy savings goals through properly placed and tuned sensors, and establishes one-party ownership before, during, and after construction," said Scott Hanna, Vice President, Service Solutions at Lutron.
The Sensor Layout and Tuning Service is a three-step process. A Lutron service representative will analyze reflected ceiling plans for the project and design a detailed sensor layout based on an agreed-upon sequence of operations. Prior to, or during system startup, Lutron may advise the installing contractor regarding sensor relocation in the event that conditions in the space deviate from the original drawings
Lutron will provide up to two additional on-site service visits post-startup within the first calendar year from the time the building is turned over, to fine-tune sensor calibration.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Las Vegas high school focuses on careers in justice, emergency response
McCarthy Building Cos., St. Louis, recently completed construction on the 130,700-sf Veterans Tribute Career & Technical Academy, a Las Vegas high school that focuses on service career pathways in 911 dispatch training, law enforcement, crime scene analysis, emergency medical training, and computer forensics.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction under way on LEED Platinum DOE energy lab
Centennial, Colo.-based Haselden Construction has topped out the $64 million Research Support Facilities, located on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) campus in Golden, Colo. Designed by RNL and Stantec to achieve LEED Platinum certification and net zero energy performance, the 218,000-sf facility will feature natural ventilation through operable ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Stimulus funding helps get NOAA project off the ground
The award-winning design for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Southwest Fisheries Science Center replacement laboratory saw its first sign of movement last month with a groundbreaking ceremony held in La Jolla, Calif. The $102 million project is funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
| Aug 11, 2010
7 Tips for Installing Moisture Barriers
If you took a poll of building envelope and construction forensic experts, it's likely that moisture barriers would be high on the list of most poorly understood products used in wall assemblies. Besides deciding which type of barrier to use under various climate conditions, Building Teams must confront the nasty matter of how to install them correctly.
| Aug 11, 2010
Recycled Pavers Elevate Rooftop Patio
The new three-story building at 3015 16th Street in Minot, N.D., houses the headquarters of building owner Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET), as well as ground-floor retail space and 71 rental apartments. The 215,000-sf mixed-use building occupies most of the small site, while parking takes up the remainder.
| Aug 11, 2010
America's Greenest Hospital
Hospitals are energy gluttons. With 24/7/365 operating schedules and stringent requirements for air quality in ORs and other clinical areas, an acute-care hospital will gobble up about twice the energy per square foot of, say, a commercial office building. It is an achievement worth noting, therefore, when a major hospital achieves LEED Platinum status, especially when that hospital attains 14 ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Research Facility Breaks the Mold
In the market for state-of-the-art biomedical research space in Boston's Longwood Medical Area? Good news: there are still two floors available in the Center for Life Science | Boston, a multi-tenant, speculative high-rise research building designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, Boston, and developed by Lyme Properties, Hanover, N.
| Aug 11, 2010
Piano's 'Flying Carpet'
Italian architect Renzo Piano refers to his $294 million, 264,000-sf Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago as a “temple of light.” That's all well and good, but how did Piano and the engineers from London-based Arup create an almost entirely naturally lit interior while still protecting the priceless works of art in the Institute's third-floor galleries from dangerous ultravio...
| Aug 11, 2010
3 Hospitals, 3 Building Teams, 1 Mission: Optimum Sustainability
It's big news in any city when a new billion-dollar hospital is announced. Imagine what it must be like to have not one, not two, but three such blockbusters in the works, each of them tracking LEED-NC Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. That's the case in San Francisco, where three new billion-dollar-plus healthcare facilities are in various stages of design and constructi...
| Aug 11, 2010
Precast All the Way
For years, precast concrete has been viewed as a mass-produced product with no personality or visual appeal—the vanilla of building materials. Thanks to recent technological innovations in precast molds and thin veneers, however, that image is changing. As precast—concrete building components that are poured and molded offsite—continues to develop a vibrant personality all it...
