ABOUT / EN3
EN3

30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

EN3 Sunprotection is a shading supplier and consultancy offering a fully integrated approach in shading technology systems. We cover the entire spectrum of services including on-site inspection, requirement assessment, design, technology and materials consulting and finally commissioning and installation. We believe in the seamless integration of innovation and state-of-the-art technology. We source from and collaborate with the best. Our partners, the Sunprotection Group and Somfy motors are industry leaders, setting the most advanced standards in innovation and environmental stewardship.

PARTNERS

Sunprotection Group Inc. (SPG), a Canadian company, has become the benchmark North American manufacturing enterprise for architectural shading and daylighting systems. In collaboration with its international partners, it provides the most advanced, world-class technology and expertise. In addition, the company diligently monitors the latest scientific advances in its industry in order to accelerate the transition to the next level of sustainability and environmental stewardship.


SOMFY® is the leading global manufacturer of strong, quiet motors with electronic and app controls for interior and exterior window coverings. Over 270 million users worldwide enjoy the more than 150 million motors produced by Somfy. During the past 40+ years, Somfy engineers have designed products for both the commercial and residential markets to motorize window coverings such as interior shades, draperies, awnings, rolling shutters, exterior solar screens and projection screens. Somfy motorization systems are easily integrated with security, HVAC and lighting systems providing total home or building automation.

SERVICES

CONSULTING

ENERGY ECONOMICS

En3 is, first and foremost, a team player. Our primary goal is to assist you; our clients, peers and collaborators in realizing your vision, to offer our experience and expertise and to take your concepts to the next level. Moreover, we understand your challenges, we understand the industry’s dynamics and anticipate its future developments. We can help you to substantially reduce a building’s energy footprint by recommending an optimal mix of energy-saving solutions, sensor-driven automation and newly developed advanced textiles. 


Next—we are ready to support the stringent standards of the new Passive House initiative; to achieve the most cost-effective structures ever built. Need an example? We can reduce the annual cooling energy consumption of a building by up to 47% by installing automated exterior shades. 


At EN3, we provide a wide range of consulting services; 

  • we can assist you with automation and integration planning. 
  • We can give you a hand with product selection. 
  • We source the best. We import the most advanced products on the international market, offering the highest standards in technology, performance, aesthetics, durability, and cost effectiveness. 

GREEN BUILDINGS

We understand that the health of a building is one of your top priorities right from its conception. We’re all aware of the Sick Building Syndrome and its symptoms: irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, skin irritation and unpleasant odour sensations. Just as a reminder; on average, a human draws more than 17,000 breaths per day, and Canadians spend close to 90% of their time indoors. Let’s consider this. Windows now make up to 80% of the interior wall surface; typically, a substantial portion of toxic chemicals in a building is a mix of substances affiliated with shading fabrics… and yet, there are healthy, organic and recyclable alternatives available right here, in Canada! 


Our company has executed thousands of installations in Toronto, GTA and across Canada. Eco-certified textiles, such as the ecoTEXTM series represents a broad range of solution-based roller shade fabrics offering the industry’s highest rate of sun protection performance and human health; the optimal choice for commercial and residential shading projects. If a textile article carries the OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100, you can be certain that every aspect of this fabric has been tested for substances harmful to human health by independent OEKO-TEX® partner institutes. The test takes into account numerous regulated and non-regulated substances. In many cases the limit values for the STANDARD 100 go beyond national and international requirements. The criteria catalog is updated at least once a year and expanded with new scientific knowledge or statutory requirements. It is not easy for manufacturers and customers to keep an overview of the legal situation concerning harmful substances every day. Our experts from the OEKO-TEX® institutes do this for you.

INSTALLATION

FULL-SERVICE 

EN3 is a full-service operation. We oversee the complete project cycle to ensure complete, integrated service is achieved to client’s satisfaction. Typically, the initial stage of the project cycle starts with a dialog with the client, ensuring that all specifications are addressed, the most demanding challenges identified and the overall vision fully understood. 

Next, the consulting phase sets in. Additional technology and fabric recommendations are made, specific issues addressed, and final calculations made. In addition to expert design consultation, EN3 is ready to deliver custom AutoCad drawings and/or provide energy data modeling. During the entire installation process, EN3 actively maintains a continuous dialog with the client and its suppliers. Our full engagement from the very beginning of each project, our attention to detail, efficiency and quality control has an immense impact on the quality of the final install.

WE UNDERSTAND
ARCHITECT

Our climate patterns are changing, and so are the ways we build our cities. All architects agree; shading systems planning and the building blueprint should be done at the same time – as one integrated entity. What is also changing rapidly: regulations and legislations related to climate change. Notably, Net-Zero emissions. We can assure you that we are well informed about the latest technologies and innovations that are being developed to respond to these new demands. Early consultation with us is encouraged. Why don’t you delegate some of your concepts, initial elevations and challenges to us early on? We may have a solution you haven’t considered. At EN3, working with our partners, we offer a wide range of consulting services; daylight and energy modelling, we can assist you with automation and integration planning. Let’s team up; the best work we have done to date was based on mutual trust and collaboration.

DEVELOPER

Most of the time, a developer’s concern is math. Every tiny price difference counts and can make a substantial impact on the final cost of a project. Shading solutions are no exception. Moreover, consider this – with rising temperatures and carbon tax legislations, building “envelopes”; glazing and shading cost versus structural cost ratio will change dramatically. There is one common headache all developers share lately… everything got more expensive. Substrates, metals, supply chains, shipping, labour—the list is endless. So, let’s team up and solve all those issues in one stroke. Let’s remove complexity by choosing a unified shading solution from EN3 and our partners. That is one efficient way to combine wholesale consistency with economy of scale.

DESIGNER

Independent designers are usually called in after a building is already in the final stages of construction or is already finished, or if it is a renovation project. This presents a challenge. Designers have to negotiate a rocky road between the design of an existing structure and the aesthetic lifestyle preferences of a client, facing a plethora of typical demands and discussion points: cost, lucency, privacy, energy economics, esthetics, health, etc. Add Net-Zero emissions targets to the mix to make these challenges even more complex. Needless to say, shading technology and substrate options are evolving at a dizzying speed. It is hard to keep up. That’s where we can help. Present your objectives to us and we will respond with viable options.

GENERAL CONTRACTOR

Cost and unpredictable challenges: general contractors (GC’s) are, with no exception, in a very difficult position. A GC has to forge a master plan, and select the most suitable and reliable subcontractors. Unpredictability is the GC’s worst foe. Uncertainty leads to risk mitigation.

Let’s touch on the quality of specifications. The hazier the specs, the more room for subjective interpretations. Uncertainty in combination with arm’s distance from the end user, by default, pressures GC’s, understandably, into less expensive choices…just to be safe. Thus, the initial vision may deteriorate quite rapidly. To ensure the integrity of the initial plan, an early consultation with EN3 is recommended. A trusted subcontractor is a GC’s most valuable asset. Give us a call.

ABOUT / WE CARE / NET-ZERO

NET ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2050?

NET ZERO

Canada has joined over 120 countries, including all other G7 nations in committing to net-zero emissions by 2050; Canada’s Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act became law on June 29, 2021. Many provinces and cities have already made net-zero-by-2050 commitments: Guelph, Vancouver, Hamilton, Toronto, Halifax, Newfoundland and Labrador, and recently Quebec. 

Similarly, the Canada Green Buildings Strategy target for net-zero emissions target and climate-resilient buildings is set for 2050, with an interim goal of 37% emissions reduction from 2005 levels by 2030. The built environment represents Canada’s third-highest source of emissions. Buildings account for 13% of Canada’s direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are the largest source of GHG emissions in Toronto, accounting for 58 per cent of total emissions. There are over 16 million dwellings and 482,000 commercial and public buildings in Canada.

At EN3 – we are ready to collaborate with our clients and partners to reach these targets. In anticipation of the demands ahead, we were sourcing and testing new advanced materials and technologies from around the world to meet the upcoming challenges. By installing Automated Exterior Shades, you can reduce the annual cooling energy consumption in a home or an office building by 47%. 

A 482,000 sq. foot office building with 8 floors, provided with a fully automated shading and lighting control system would reduce its peak cooling load by 20%, its energy consumption by 24% and its annual cooling energy consumption by 25% a year and save $ 107,000 per year.


ABOUT / WE CARE / PASSIVE HOUSE

SMART SHADING OR ACTIVE COOLING?

PASSIVE HOUSE

Passive House has established itself as the internationally acknowledged standard for energy efficient architecture. Thousands of Passive House buildings have been built throughout Europe, with an increasing number worldwide in places ranging from North America to the Far East. Research has shown the energy consumption for heating and cooling in Passive House buildings to be roughly 80 percent lower than in conventional buildings. These results are quite in-line with Net-Zero Emissions legislations and are proof that the set targets are achievable.


Passive House, regulates input energy to a maximum 15 kWh / m2/ per year for heating/cooling/ventilation – about one tenth of that in a typical new 200 m2 Canadian house, and a difference equivalent to 300 litres of oil, 300m3 of natural gas or 3000 kWh of electricity annually.


This standard is not confined to residential properties; a large number of office buildings, schools, kindergartens and a supermarket have also been constructed to the standard. The design is not an attachment or supplement to architectural design, but a design process that integrates with architectural design. Needless to say, early planning is key. We can help. At EN3, working with our partners, we offer a wide range of advanced consulting services; we will work together on your daylight and energy modelling, and automation and integration planning.

Energy savings in buildings starts with smart solar shading

AIR CONDITIONING vs SMART SOLAR SHADING

IF WE DO NOTHING WE LOSE

2050

AIR
CONDITIONING

2050
DOING THE RIGHT THING WE WIN
2050

2050

SMART SOLAR
SHADING

+ 60%
of all buildings in Europe will use AC for cooling
0%
No additional AC units needed
+ 870
TWhel of extra energy needed to power the additional indoor cooling
62%
Energy savings = energy consumption of 47 million people
+ 58%
More CO2 will be emitted, the equivalent of 22 million cars
0%
No additional AC means no surplus CO2
+ $309B
Unnecessary money spent on energy
+ 382B%
GDP equivalent of Quebec saved
~ 50%
of all buildings will use active cooling
~ 28%
STATUS QUO – when Smart Solar Shading becomes the standard
ABOUT / WE CARE / EN3 - COUNT US IN

WE'RE PART OF THE SOLUTION

COUNT US IN

Data, gathered from several independent sources show that by the year 2050, 77% of the cities around the world will experience a striking change of climate conditions, with 22% encountering conditions that currently don’t exist. As a general trend, we found that all the cities tend to shift towards the sub-tropics, with cities from the Northern hemisphere shifting to warmer conditions, on average ~1000 km south. It is projected that within the next three decades, the City of Toronto will acquire the climate of North Carolina and is expected to experience approximately 66 days with maximum temperatures above 30°C.

 

For Toronto specifically, the study predicts a temperature increase of approximately 6°C during the warmest month of the year. Calgary, Montreal and Ottawa show similar increases. Montreal’s warmest months will see an increase of almost 6°C, bringing its high to ~31°C; Ottawa will see an increase of almost 6°C in its warmest months as well, bringing its high to ~30°C; and Calgary will see an increase during its warmest periods of 3.8°C, bringing its high to ~27°C.


Within 10 years, typically Canadian building concepts will have to undergo a dramatic correction. We may as well start the process right away. The push for net-zero emission targets in combination with the aforementioned climatic changes will require a much more sophisticated approach to building enveloping: double or triple glazed windows, and most importantly, exterior shading and/or permanent and adjustable external louver systems. Simply put, shading systems planning as an afterthought is a thing of the past. The next generation of buildings will have to be a collaborative process: architects, developers, advanced shading consultants and suppliers will have to team up. Work with us and by extension with our partners – engage early.

Toronto TEMPERATURES: # of days above 30°C

Untitled UI logomark
Untitled UI logotext
Join our mailing list
Join our newsletter to stay up to date on releases.
We care about your data in our privacy policy.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information.