Selecting & Buying
Skylights
Before selecting a skylight, you should reflect a little on the available skylight
types.
If you just want day-lighting and an easy installation, then
modern tubular skylights are excellent options. If you also want
natural ventilation and views, then choose traditional
rectangular skylights.
More information:
Traditional Rectangular Skylights
Modern Tubular Skylights
Anyway, there are other questions you should also take into
account, namely:
- the rating and effectiveness of a skylight;
- the relation between skylights and climate zones,
Plastic & Glass & Types of
Glazing
Skylight glazing usually consists of either plastic or glass.
The best
skylights use glass, or more precisely,
Low-E
(Low Emittance) double-glass coatings, and also warm-edge
spacers and gas (argon...) fillings. These features improve
their insulating efficiency and reduce heat losses.
Low-E coatings can involve different solar gain values (the
amount of solar heat transmitted in through the glass), which
should respond to different climate zones.
Low-E
insulation
doesn’t just reduce
heat transmission;
it also reduces UV
transmission,
which represents less
fading of furnishings (due to
the extra light
brought into the house
by the skylights).
Laminated tempered
glass
is also a common solution, involving a combination of two or more
glass sheets and one
or two layers of
plastic.
This solution improves the skylight safety in case of breakage:
the skylight will break into
small pieces,
avoiding negative impacts.
Skylights and climates zones
New technologies allow a large diversity of skylights responding
to particular climate zones and needs.
Typically, skylights are labeled for three climate zones:
- the colder,
- the temperate and…
- the warmer.
The correspondent types of skylights differ basically in the
U-factor* and
Solar Heat Gain Coefficient** of their glazing.
* U-factor is a measure of the rate of non-solar heat
flow through the skylight (or window)
** SHGC is a measure of the intensity of solar heat flow
through the skylight (or window).
See for more information:
Climate zones for windows, skylights…
Energy Star and BFRC labeling
The NFRC/Energy Star or the
BRFC labels (British Rating
Fenestration Council, a voluntary scheme
used by the glazing industry in Great Britain) represent an easy
way to evaluate the energy efficiency of a skylight.
Energy Star
or BRFC qualified skylights
are a guarantee of energy performance
for the different climate zones.
Note:
The BFRC Window Energy Rating contains bands from A to G, like
the EU eco-label (presently not applied to skylights or
windows).
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