MC024-1.2 Glazing for Light and Energy: Daylight and Solar Gain in Façade Design
One Pane, Three Dials — A Complete Framework for Daylight, Solar Gain, and Heat Loss Through Glass
About This CPD
Join us for a foundational technical CPD on glazing performance. Every pane of glass in a façade is carrying three separate flows of energy at once: daylight entering the room, solar heat entering with it, and the room's own warmth trying to escape through that same sheet. Specify for one of these properties in isolation, and the other two are routinely got wrong.
This course shows how every pane of glass carries three separate flows at once — daylight, solar heat, and room heat — and how an engineer can steer all three largely independently.
This course covers:
Glass: one pane, several jobs — the three-flow idea that runs through the whole lecture, what light actually is, and why daylight quality matters more than quantity
Heat through glass — why a window is the weakest part of the envelope, how double and triple glazing work, gas fills, warm-edge spacers, and low-emissivity coatings
Solar gain: friend in winter, enemy in summer — the solar factor (g-value), solar-control coatings, and why orientation is a design tool in its own right
The conflict, and how engineers steer it — the four levers available — glazed area, glass selection, shading, and the frame and edge — and how to read a real glass performance sheet
When glass goes wrong — fogged sealed units, altitude-related bowing, spontaneous breakage from nickel sulphide inclusion, and thermal stress cracking
Using plain language and one everyday window throughout, this CPD gives you the vocabulary and physical intuition that every later, calculation-based course in this series builds on.
What You'll Learn
Explain why a single pane of glass carries three separate flows at once — daylight in, solar heat in, and room heat out — and why they can be steered largely independently
Distinguish visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet as different parts of the sun's output, and explain why a coating can be tuned to treat them differently
Explain why daylight quality — even, deep, glare-free light — matters more than daylight quantity
Define the three headline numbers that describe any piece of glass — light transmittance, solar factor (g-value), and U-value — and explain why they are three independent dials
Identify the "quiet" performance figures on a glass specification sheet — safety, self-cleaning, colour neutrality, condensation resistance, weight — and know when each one drives a decision
Explain why a window is almost always the weakest part of a building's envelope for heat loss, and identify its three weak points: the glass, the frame, and the sealed edge
Explain how a double or triple glazed unit reduces heat loss, and describe the role of the gas fill, the gap width, and the warm-edge spacer
Explain how a low-emissivity coating reduces heat loss by reflecting radiant heat, and how a solar-control coating reduces solar gain, and why the two are not the same coating
Explain why solar gain is a benefit in winter and a liability in summer through the very same glass, and why the right answer depends on climate and orientation
Identify the four levers an engineer can adjust to balance daylight, solar gain, and heat loss — glazed area, glass selection, shading, and the frame and edge — and explain why they work together
Explain why shading is more effective outside the glass than inside it, and describe the trade-off between fixed and moveable shading devices
Read a real glass performance sheet, recognising both the headline three figures and the secondary figures that matter only when a project has a specific demand
Explain the two ways sealed glazing units can fail — seal failure (fogging) and altitude-related pressure changes — and how each is designed around
Explain the mechanism behind spontaneous breakage of toughened glass due to nickel sulphide inclusion, and describe how heat-soak testing and lamination manage that risk
Explain the mechanism behind thermal (shadow) stress cracking in glass, and identify the site conditions that make it more likely
Who Should Attend
Architects, Architectural Technologists, Junior Façade Engineers, Envelope Designers, Façade Specialist Contractors, Building Envelope Consultants, Project Managers, and Design Managers.
This session is designed for anyone completing a foundational, practical understanding of façade building physics, and assumes only the earlier fundamentals course as prior knowledge.
Speakers
Eugene Korch
Programme Director, IASTEugene is a façade engineer and educator who leads educational initiatives through the Institute for Architectural Science and Technology (IAST) and Facade Intelligence, delivering training to construction professionals.
Course Schedule
Recommended time allocation: 4-10 hours
Self-paced online study mode tailored for busy professionals
Unlimited individual access to course materials and updates
Peer-reviewed by industry leaders
Structured professional development
MC024-1.2
Glazing for Light and Energy: Daylight and Solar Gain in Façade Design
Through parametric studies and glass performance data tables, this course equips you to evaluate the daylight and solar implications of façade specification choices early in the design process.
Course Fee £120
Free for FI Pro Members
