Does Glare Cause The Inside Of A Building To Heat Up? If So, What Can Be Done About It?

[Liz Seyi]

Great numbers of us are all too familiar with the distracting effects of glare, especially when we are at work, or attempting to focus on another important task. Your most frequent experience of glare might be light reflecting off your computer screen or another nearby shiny surface, which isn’t exactly beneficial for comfort or productivity.
Plus, while glare is associated with sunlight, it isn’t “only” a summer problem. The sun being lower in the sky during the colder and darker months can mean that, with its rays hitting the Earth at a lower angle, glare becomes a major issue in a building.
Glare doesn’t merely cause unwelcome distraction – it can also drive up temperatures
To answer the question at the top of this article directly: yes, glare can indeed lead to internal spaces of a building becoming warmer. The sun’s rays, after all, carry heat energy, which is absorbed by materials that are exposed to direct sunlight.
Many commercial buildings today are highly glazed. There is, then, often plenty of scope for the sun’s rays to penetrate through glass and reflect off objects in a given building’s internal area.
In the process, the rays change length and aren’t able to escape the building back through the windows. As a result, the heat energy is trapped in the space, and the interior temperature goes up.
Heat reduction and glare minimisation are closely linked priorities
So, you can probably begin to understand why, when many owners and managers of commercial property seek out anti-glare window film to help tackle this problem, they are also effectively looking for film to reduce heat from windows.
Window films that reject a high proportion of solar energy can help to lower heat and glare within a particular building. This, in turn, can help create a more comfortable space in which workers can be efficient and productive, day after day.
What window films are best for reducing both heat and glare?
If you are presently searching for window film that is effective in lowering glare, the basic formula is to seek out as dark a film as possible (or at least, as dark as you can allow it to be, without overly compromising the level of clarity you desire for your building’s windows).
There isn’t any window film on the market that is completely clear and genuinely effective at reducing glare, as a tint is necessary for preventing that troublesome light getting through the glass and causing glare. So, you may need to carefully consider your options, taking into account your full range of needs from window film.
One especially popular option that we present here at Stockfilms, for instance, is the Opalux Silver 20 product, which is especially good at combatting both heat and glare. This film has a silver reflective appearance when viewed from the outside during the day, but shows a much less noticeable lighter tint internally. It reduces glare by 82%, and rejects 78% of total solar energy.
There are various other options in our range if you wish to both lower glare and reduce heat from windows at your commercial premises. Still, if achieving the best possible glare control is a priority for you, choosing a 20% or darker film is likely to be the most suitable course of action.
For a discussion of your requirements with our customer service team, and to receive guidance on the window films that may best suit your intended setting, please call us now on 020 8441 0449. It could also be a good idea to check our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page, in case you have a query we have already answered.