What’s a bioclimatic pergola?
Nobody may dismiss it: the energy and climate implications are at the heart of all modern preoccupations. As individual houses are meant to last a lifelong, or even several generations, they should be provided straight away with equipment able to stand up to tomorrow’s challenges. The bioclimatic approach is meant to handle said challenges, by ensuring that the house produces the energy it burns off as far as possible. In this approach, the pergola plays a major role in the bioclimatic dimension of the houses, for new buildings or during renovation projects.
What’s a bioclimatic house?
A bioclimatic house is a residence which is designed to burn off very little energy and therefore is as environment-friendly as possible. Better still, it harvests its environment by using the right equipment in order to produce its own energy. It might be electric power, but also and more specifically heating warmth, or light for lighting.
Ideally, a bioclimatic house can create more energy than it burns off. This is the whole purpose of the BEPOS concept, Positive Energy Building, which is sometimes difficult to put into place. Quite often, obtaining a building which is either passive or autonomous, even seasonally, is already a huge step forward for saving the environment and cutting back on energy consumption.
Furthermore, the term “bioclimatic” may apply to any household equipment which participates to the energy-saving goals. We therefore speak of the porch, bay windows and bioclimatic pergola.
How does the bioclimatic
pergola work?
What kind of pergola should I plan for a bioclimatic solution?
Pergolas are originally meant to provide coolness and shade to enjoy the outdoors of a home, especially in summer. However, their interaction with the house is what gives them a bioclimatic feature.
To be bioclimatic, the pergola must be leaning against the house. It should equally overhang a facade equipped with wide openings, generally a sliding bay window.
In actual fact, due to these technical constraints, bioclimatic pergolas are nearly systematically aluminium products fitted with adjustable slats, which are crucial for providing the necessary climate control. It is indeed through the pergola’s slats, and the wide glazed openings, that the bioclimatic capacity may be carried out.
Bioclimatic pergolas are built from high-performance aluminium systems: access to aluminium profile and accessories provided by Installux.
The bioclimatic pergola to control the greenhouse effect in the house
Coupled with the bay window, the pergola allows you to modulate the natural light intake of the house. In summer, the slats in closed position stop the sunlight from coming in and heating the room by greenhouse effect. The need for air conditioners and other fans is hence reduced.
In winter, however, fully opening the slats allows the penetration of maximum sunlight. The room is naturally heated, thus limiting the use of heating.
In order to control even more accurately the bioclimatic aspects, additional equipment may be associated to the pergola and to the bay window. This should include masonry and bricks which store heat at daytime before recovering it at nighttime, blinds and rolling shutters, etc.
A smart pergola design to meet the bioclimatic goals
Like any bioclimatic element, it’s essential to position the pergola correctly with respect to the environment and the house.
- What size should it be to make sure the bay window remains in the shade in summer?
- In what direction should the slats be turned?
- Should they be parallel or perpendicular to the facade?
These technical features allow us to design equipment with a strong impact on the energy performances of the house. These technical choices are made at the very beginning of the design.