VELUX

Swipe to test your daylight knowledge 👉

The VELUX roller shutter gives you the freedom to enjoy your space as you please, all year round, whatever the weather. It’s durable, easy to install and always there for you.

We’re excited to be Silver Partners at this year’s #ClimateWeekNYC and to be hosting an executive roundtable discussion with Climate Group focused on healthy buildings for healthy people.   People spend up to 90% of their time inside, so we need to be putting people at the centre of building renovation programmes, ensuring that the places where we live, work and play drive prosperity, health and well-being while limiting the impact of the climate crisis.   Check out more #SustainableLiving events in the calendar linked below, and the link to our Healthy Buildings Barometer, researched and written by BPIE - Buildings Performance Institute Europe in the comments.

Cool down your indoor space in the daytime by opening windows at night 🌛 The method is called ‘night cooling’ and is very efficient in preventing overheating during summer and transition periods. Here’s how it works: ✅ Night cooling makes use of the fact that the outdoor temperature is lower during the night than during the daytime. ✅ When windows are opened during the night, excess heat is removed from the thermal mass, thereby reducing the temperature in the building in the morning as the surface temperatures of the walls are lower. ✅ During the day, the indoor temperature will increase, but the temperature in the afternoon will be lower than if night cooling had not been used. ✅ Often, indoor daytime temperatures below the outdoor temperature can be maintained. One study in a kindergarten with an atrium shows that opening windows at night can lower indoor temperatures the following day by up to 8°C. Another study in a landscape office reveals that night cooling can lower indoor temperatures at day by 4.1°C. So basically, you’re able to use the naturally cooler night air to refresh your indoor space without relying on air conditioning. 

Meet our very own Doctor Daylight, also known as Joël Sels. “I want to push the world in a new direction. For hundreds of years, we have built in the same way, but we need to think differently about daylight and how we design our houses,” he says. As a Senior Daylight Design Engineer at VELUX, Joël’s job is to inspire and share knowledge about how to design with daylight in mind 🌞 He describes himself as a curious and passionate “out-of-the-box thinker”: “I think the ability to think outside the box, comes from my Asperger’s syndrome. It gives me this kind of analytic way of understanding the world and makes me very focused on finding the best solutions.” According to Joël the biggest problem today is old habits and a lack of knowledge about daylight. That’s why he established the Daylight Academy in Belgium for architecture and engineering students. “My passion is to make daylight understandable for everybody, so every architect understands that it is a key ingredient of building the house of tomorrow. Every time we design, we need to answer questions like: “Where do I create an opening?", "How big should it be?" and "How many openings do I need?“ Joël continues: “I always tell the students that the secrets lie in the roof. When going on the adventure to achieve the best, least obstructed daylight and make it most performant, you need to let daylight in from the highest possible point.”   

Ventilative cooling vs. air conditioning to reduce room temperatures 🌡️ It is hard to imagine a hot summer day without turning on the air conditioner. But did you know that opening windows can give up to 12 times more airflow than mechanical ventilation? 🌬️ Opening windows increases air motion, especially with cross-ventilation or the stack effect. Even if outdoor temperatures are slightly higher, the increased airflow can make indoor temperatures feel cooler, by the cooling sensation on the skin. ◾Cross-ventilation occurs when you open windows across from each other in the same room or building, allowing air to flow through. ◾ The stack effect can be even more efficient when you open a lower façade window and a higher-placed roof window. The height difference creates a stronger upward airflow, referred to as the stack effect. As global temperatures rise, air conditioner sales are expected to double over the next 20 years, resulting in even more demand for electricity to cool our homes and buildings. To reduce energy use and help break this vicious cycle, why not utilize ventilative cooling instead?

Teamwork makes the dream work🙌 While many have been enjoying their summer holiday, the riders of the Giro d'Italia Women 2024 have been busy! More than 870 km have been completed and what a ride it has been. We are proud sponsors of this awesome race celebrating the hardcore, skilled riders out there, and we could not be more happy about this partnership at VELUX 🥳 Big congratulations to all the winners and huge big ups to the Team Liv AIUIa Jayco for winning the 2024 Team Challenge! Thank you to everyone involved for making this happen and special thanks to my partners in crime, Anton and Lotte, for being awesome! Here’s to many more great experiences chasing daylight together☀️ #GirodItaliaWomen #Cycling #Sponsorship #ChasingDaylight

Just as bright, just as cool ☀️ Your roof does not have to be sloped for you to add daylight from above and ventilation into your home. Flat roofs have been around for ages, and so have VELUX flat roof windows. Did you know that a flat roof window delivers 3 times more daylight than a façade window?

Tribute to our Great Britain and Ireland colleagues, who recently celebrated 70 years of operations in the UK! 🎉   They gathered on June 28 to mark the occasion in a full-day conference at their office in Glenrothes, followed by an evening celebration in the Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh. A lot has changed since the official establishment of the business in 1954, but the high degree of dedication and commitment to transform living spaces with daylight and fresh air remains the same. 🌤 🍃 (Executive Vice President & CFO Anders Götzsche & Vice President GB&I Alex O'dell in image) Press release🔗 in comment ⬇

A roof window gives you up to three times more daylight compared to a façade window. But why is that? And how do we measure it? ☀️ More sunlight: A roof window has direct access to sunlight throughout the day, and because the sun moves across the sky during the day, roof windows receive sunlight from early morning to afternoon when the sun is low on the horizon - unlike façade windows, which can only let sunlight into your room at certain times of the day. 🌳 Less obstacles: Roof windows are less affected by obstructions compared to facade windows. With a roof window, you have a clear view of the sky, while façade windows often face obstructions such as trees and neighbouring buildings. 🎩 Higher angle of light entry: Roof windows let sunlight in at a higher angle, which means the light goes deeper into the room and can reach the room from different orientations. But how do we measure the daylight? It is measured in two metrics called “illuminance” and “luminance”, which is the amount of light received on the surface and the amount of glare reflected from a surface. These levels can be measured with a lux meter or a luminance meter, but they can also be predicted through the use of computer simulations with recognised and validated software, like the VELUX Daylight Visualizer. To determine the daylight factor, it considers: ▪️The size, distribution, location, and transmission properties of the façade and roof windows. ▪️The size and configuration of the space. ▪️ The reflective properties of the internal and external surfaces. ▪️ The degree to which external structures obscure the view of the sky. Either way, the most optimal way to gain as much daylight in the room as possible, is to combine façade windows and roof windows 👇 The images speak for themselves, right?