Warema and CPHBA were humbled to be receiving the Energy Efficiency Award related to the Passive House LA+ (PHLA+) project.
Indeed, on June 26th, 2019 Warema received in San Francisco the ultimate recognition initiated by German Energy Solutions Initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs for the performance of its Exterior Venetian Blinds at the PHLA+
Indeed, these elegant sunshades were a key element for this new built residential Passive House in Los Angeles, a powerful asset toward greener buildings and a prime example of German technology applied in the U.S. context.
By keeping the sun out of the building in this hot area of the U.S., the shades placed on the outside of the house help tremendously PHLA+ by lowering its AC need and consumption, therefore making it easier to reach the Zero Net Energy status as well as the Passive House one. Also, these shades allow for privacy at night while still allowing for a nice view from the inside.
How does the system work?
The Exterior Venetian Blinds come with a smart system. The automated Sun Tracking System adjusts the position of the blinds depending of the position of the sun, ie depending of the time of the day and the time of the year. A weather station can also be added to optimize this system, in this case, the blinds change of position depending of the intensity of the sunshine.
This efficient green technology easily convinced the jury, especially after they saw the calculations showing some clear net energy savings.
Thank you to everyone involved in this jury: Bronwyn Barry with NAPHN, Melanie Colburn with USGBC, Peter Reppe with Brightworks Sustainability, Stefan Schwab with Enlighted Inc. and Steve Straus from Glumac. They had no easy job but lent their expertise to the initiative and volunteered their time to evaluate the applications.
Last but not least, Congratulations to the ones who worked really hard for this Award-Winning Project: Christian Kienapfel with Paravant Architects, Cyril Petit with CPHBA, Ralf Nowakowski with Warema, and many more.
Let this award but the first one of a long series!
