Window Treatments That Reduce Energy Consumption

Times Building

Installing the correct window treatments can reduce energy consumption in residential and commercial buildings, providing a remarkable opportunity to reduce both air conditioning and heating bills.  The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that consumers can reduce solar heat gain by over 70% in the summer and heat loss by up to 25% in the winter by installing the proper window treatments.  Although glass is a remarkable building material that allows us to borrow ambient sunlight to light our interiors while seeing the world around us from inside our homes & offices – it is a very poor insulator.  In fact, it is widely understood in the architectural and engineering community that glass is the weak link in the chain when considering heat loss and gain in a building. Building designers also know that the proper selection of window treatments will have a substantial impact on comfort and energy consumption in their designs. In addition to reducing energy consumption, selecting the proper window treatments can literally provide building occupants a better quality of life.  There have been a number of studies that confirm that natural daylight has long term and important positive health effects and that natural light can actually contribute to healing diseases. An important part of the design strategy in improving window performance, especially in our climate, is to reduce sunlight penetration while enhancing daylight.  Sunlight is what you see when you are facing the sun, daylight is what you see when the sun is at your back.