Site Specific Exterior Shading Device

New technologies are needed to cost-effectively reduce solar heat gain through windows during the summer in low-income homes to mitigate heat-related health risks and lower cooling energy consumption, while improving occupant satisfaction and comfort. Through Phase I of this SBIR project, the team investigated the technical feasibility of a novel site-optimized exterior shading system featuring innovations in hardware, software, and commercial business model. This site-optimized shading system consists of modular, adjustable shading hardware, building-specific shading configuration optimization software, and a service platform with an ancillary mobile application that connects product manufacturers, local installers, and customers. The shading hardware can utilize one to three modules to maximize energy-saving performance, optimize site installation and minimize cost. The needed product quantity, position, and width are calculated based on building site location by the streamlined software process featuring geo-referenced energy simulations and cost estimation. The standardized and adjustable hardware design enables mass production at a reduced unit cost and requires less SKUs. A position locking mechanism allows convenient adjustment by the occupant to prevent heating/lighting penalties during the winter. The ancillary mobile application features guided building survey tools, and automatically generates the optimal device configuration and visualized costs and energy-saving estimates based on building-specific energy modeling results. It also provides a unit-specific installation guide to improve installer productivity. Preliminary modeling work estimated that a typical 2-story home in climate zone 1 (hot) with optimally configured Xtrashade devices could reduce the annual HVAC energy consumption by an average 22.17%. For homes without air conditioning, the shading system reduces the annual hours with indoor temperatures above 95 degrees from 1609 to 812. When compared to a conventional, fixed fabric window awning, this shading technology can achieve a similar energy-saving performance at about 20.5% of the upfront parts and labor cost. Furthermore, the Xtrashade service model could improve a local awning company’s service process efficiency by 40% - 70%. Phase II project funds will be used to refine the technical solution (hardware, software, service platform and mobile application), move the technology toward a commercialization ready product and conduct pilot demonstrations with our manufacturer partner and local property owners and installers to validate the performance and cost estimates, and improve the product design based on real world test data. The resulting commercial ready product will be licensed to a shading device manufacturer, providing an efficient path to market.