Blinds as Thermal Comfort Control

Hi Afogreen Build,

Thanks for the response; they weren't included explicitly, but I read the examples list as just that, and not an exhaustive list of allowable thermal controls. Or an I inteptreting that incorrectly? It is worth noting that they are also not listed as an example of non-comliant controls none of the examples listed on page 698 really control radiant temperature. I was looking at them as a radiant temperature control; which is one of the comfort variable that can be controlled. 

My main reason for considering it, is that they are being installed as a glare reduction, and if they can double as the thermal control device, it would be great. The rationale for them being a thermal comfort control would be that putting down blinds/curtains would reduce the local radiant temperature from preventing the direct solar exposure to occupant. 

It is worth noting that the project is in a tropical climate; I would agree that they might not be as effective at controlling cold radiant heat through windows in winter in colder climates.

I will ask the GBCI and let you know what they say!

Hi Emily,

Our project is in Far North Queensland, Australia, so a tropical climate, where cooling is the primary concern. Here is the response that we recieved from the LEED technical team.

"Operable blinds could qualify as a thermal comfort control if the project team could demonstrate that the blinds provide meaningful control over one of those variables in the project's specific climate and the control is readily available to the space occupants. If the blinds are claimed as glare control devices for EQc Daylight, then they may not be considered thermal comfort controls for this credit."

We are not targeting the Daylight credit, so we will be able to use them as a Thermal Comfort control, so long as we can justify that they will provide a meaningful control of the radiant temperature in these spaces. We are using solid, light coloured roller blinds in these spaces, with a VLT of 8%. In a hot climate, we expect that these will provide a level of occupant control, similar or better than providing thermostat control with a limited set-point range that can only be adjusted by the building supervisor/manager.

Due to the vagueness of the GBCI response, we are unsure if we will need to quantify this control; for now we will rely on a narrative outlining our strategy will suffice. It won't have a significant impact on the energy use, as the blinds are internal, but we fully expect them to provide localised radiant temperature control, but uncertain how to quantify this. 

Any suggestions on how we might be able to quantify the level of control from operable interior blinds?