Feeling the heat

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Singapore, 25^th October 2013

A story that caught my attention was about a set of mirrors installed on a mountain top near a small town in Norway to reflect light from the sun onto the village in the valley which during most of the winter month is in the shade and does not receive any daylight at all. The exercise seems to be pretty successful according to new sources like BBC with the villagers raving about the extra sun they receive.

This is in stark contrast to two other stories strongly related to the same subject. In London recently someone lodged an official complaint in regards to the fact that the highly mirrored glass windows of a building facade in downtown London had reflected the sunlight on his car and has caused his car mirror to melt. I guess this is hard to prove but fact is that more and more modern city buildings have highly mirrored glass finishes (exactly to keep the heat out of the building!) which results in at times very strong and blinding reflections.

In another related story Singapore has just launched some new regulations to police and regulate the use of reflective glass on building facades to keep in control of the reflected sunlight environment. There is certainly something to say for that because while it may be nice for the people inside the building to keep the sunlight out they should do so in consideration of the urban environment and human spaces outside the building. Inconsiderate use of the mirror material should therefore be subject to legislation and putting this as a matter for urban approval seems the right way to go!

I am off to Europe tonight and shall be reporting from PLDC from Wednesday onwards after a short break with my parents in Holland these coming days! For those going to Copenhagen, see you there and please do come to my presentation on Friday!

Light Watch 4-183: The installed mirror in the mountains of Norway, the London car claim and the Singapore legislation in regards to glass façade applications.