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Neelanjana Rajawat
Keywords:
Shading systems; Glass façades; Carbon emissions; Solar heat gain; Commercial buildings; Energy efficiency; Building envelope; Urban heat island; Passive design; Adaptive façades.
Abstract:
As urban expansions continue to grow in the form of commercial development, architectural design decisions influence energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Two common approaches to addressing solar heat gain and indoor thermal comfort-conventional shading systems and contemporary glass façades-employ very different strategies. Conventional shades like louvers and fins passively block sunlight to minimize cooling loads and carbon emissions. In contrast, contemporary glass façades - particularly those with high performance glazing and incorporated photovoltaic (PV) or dynamic technologies-seek a balance of transparency, day lighting, and energy performance. Large glazing area, however, can increase the internal heat gains and intensify the urban heat island effect, if control is not adopted. This paper synthesizes recent studies comparing these two façade strategies in the sense of carbon heat impact in commercial districts. It tests indicators like energy use intensity, solar heat gain coefficients, and CO₂ emissions in different climates. Additionally, it focuses on the developing field of adaptive façades and hybridized technologies that couple and integrate passive and active devices toward net-zero energy solutions. The paper proposes that an integrative, climate-sensitive architectural design-optimizing the complimentary advantages of both shading control and advanced glazing-is required to ensure sustainable and thermally efficient commercial architecture
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International Journal of Recent Research and Review
ISSN: 2277-8322
Vol. XIX, Issue 1
March 2026
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PUBLISHED
March 2026
ISSUE
Vol. XIX, Issue 1
SECTION
Articles
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