The following was featured on Medscape http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/778174_2.

In addition to placing strains on nations' power grids, air conditioners pose threats to the environment and environmental health, primarily as contributors to global warming. "The amount of electricity that's used for air conditioning is a huge part of an energy load for most countries, and it's going up," says Durwood Zaelke, president of the nonprofit Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. "You're putting out more climate pollutants as you're burning more coal or gas to run the air conditioners, and you're also putting out the greenhouse gases that serve as the refrigerants in the equipment."

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According to an article published by the Chief Engineers Association, aside from altering the appearance a building, the use of conventional tinted and reflective heat-blocking window films can increase air conditioning and lighting costs and, in the case of commercial properties, decrease employee productivity due to increased, not decreased, temperatures.

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According to Dr. Cynthia Bailey Dermatologist Sebastopol, California AAD and ABD: Normal glass allows UVA to pass through. UVA penetrates the skin more deeply than UVB playing a big role in sun damage including wrinkles and can cause skin cancer.

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According to academic works submitted by Mark DesJardine Ph.D. Candidate, Strategy & Sustainability at the Ivey Business School at Western University (mdesjardine.phd@ivey.ca):

A one degree adjustment has been estimated to save 5.4% of total space conditioning costs and energy use. For Canadian businesses the collective savings amount to 1.8 million tonnes of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and over $800 million every year. Comfort isn’t an issue either because people won’t physically notice the change: medical research has found that human body temperatures fluctuate naturally by 1°F (0.5°C) every day. One Degree is simple, original and easy to implement, and yet the environmental and financial implications it generates are substantial. In short, it’s smart business.

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This article gives a brief explanation of the solar spectrum and discusses the various spectrums of energy created by the sun.

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Virtually all of the glass condominium towers feature window wall systems that enclose the entire facade of these buildings. Window walls are thermally inefficient compared to curtain walls or punched windows, and they also exhibit questionable performance in terms of durability, air and water leakage. Industry experts forecast that many of these window wall systems will require extensive retrofit or replacement within 15 to 20 years after they have
been constructed in order to remediate these performance problems.

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