Various Tips For Energy Efficient Window Coverings
The year is 2017. That’s an obvious statement, but it’s also a fairly obvious notion to recognize the fact that countries around the world, including the United States, have become more eco-conscious and ‘green’ than ever before. What we’re describing here is probably more commonly known as simply being energy efficient, and whether that’s through the use of renewable resources as energy or just consuming and living off of fewer items, being green is more than just a ‘hip’ thing to do these days.
Arjay’s Can Make Your Home Or Business More Efficient
From mass recycling efforts around the world to planting trees and gardens to the solar-powered electric vehicle craze, we want to contribute our part in keeping planet Earth sustainable, lush, and natural for future generations to enjoy. At Arjay’s Window Fashions, our role within this process revolves around providing window cover solutions that do things like return energy to your home to warm it up. By installing the correct window treatments, you can significantly reduce the energy consumption in residential and commercial buildings, which presents a rather remarkable opportunity in reducing both air conditioning and heating bills.
That’s why Arjay’s is dedicating today’s blog post to various tips and solutions that you can implement to make the energy that’s used to heat or cool down your home more efficient. Not only will future generations thank you, but your wallet will also thank you in the process! To learn more about what kind of window coverings that Arjay’s offers to buildings more energy efficient, visit this page. Now, let’s go ahead and dive into some tips to ensure that your window treatments are as energy efficient as possible.
Understanding The Difference Between Sunlight And Daylight
Put simply, sunlight is what you see when you’re directly facing the sun and feeling those intense, harsh rays. Daylight is what you see when the sun is at your back and when you’re not directly facing it. Why is this distinction between daylight and sunlight important? Well, it’s because energy efficiency in window coverings comes down to managing the levels of sunlight and daylight.
An important part of the design strategy in improving window performance – especially down here in ever-sunny Southern California – is to reduce sunlight penetration while simultaneously enhancing daylight. Proper natural light levels are so important that there have been a number of studies that have actually confirmed that natural daylight has long term and notable positive health benefits. It’s even understood that an appropriate amount of natural light can also contribute to healing diseases!
The Problem With Glass Windows
Glass windows are great because they let in natural light and allow us to safely gaze into the outside world. However, intense sunlight coming straight through your windows only makes it more difficult to cool down your home to comfortable temperatures when it’s already incredibly hot outside. The simple reality is that glass is a poor insulator – as a matter of fact, it’s widely understood in the architectural and engineering industries that glass acts as the weak link in the chain when you consider heat loss and gain in a building.
Furthermore, even organizations like the U.S. Department of Energy estimate that consumers can actually reduce solar heat gain by a massive 70 percent in the summer and also reduce heat loss by a considerable 25 percent in the winter. This is simply done by installing the proper window treatments.
Tips For Shades
Shades can be some of the most effective and most efficient window covering solutions, provided that they’re installed correctly.
Ideally, your window shade should be mounted as close to the glass as possible with the sides of the shade held close to the wall in order to establish a sealed air space. On sunlit windows in the summer, make sure that your shades are rolled down. Additionally, raise your shades on the south side of your house in the winter during the day, and lower them at night.
Quilted roller shades and certain types of Roman shades are something worth considering from an energy efficiency perspective. These types of window coverings feature several layers of fiber batting and sealed edges. Both of these shade types are great because they act as both insulation and an air barrier, plus, they control air filtration more effectively than other types of ‘soft’ window treatments.
Tips For Blinds
With window blinds, keep in mind that they’re more effective at reducing summer heat gain as opposed to winter heat loss, and that goes for both vertical and horizontal slat-type blinds.
Due to the numerous openings between the slats of interior blinds, it’s rather challenging to control heat loss. However, the slats do offer flexibility in the summer. Unlike shades, you can adjust the slats in blinds in order to control light and ventilation. When blinds are completely closed and lowered on a sunny window, highly reflective blinds can reduce heat gain by roughly 45 percent – something that’s really nice on those scorching Southern California summer days.
Exterior roller blinds from Arjay’s are usually made of materials like wood, steel, aluminum, or vinyl. Exterior blinds should obviously be mounted above the window, with side channels guiding them as they’re raised and lowered. The slats in exterior blinds meet and provide shade when they’re lowered, and when they’re partially raised, the blinds allow a healthy amount of air and daylight to enter through the windows.
Tips For Draperies
Factors like fabric type and color of your draperies will affect their ability to reduce heat loss or gain heat. As a general tip with draperies, you should close draperies during summer days on windows that are receiving direct sunlight in order to prevent heat gain. When they’re drawn during the cold winter weather, even the most conventional draperies can reduce heat loss from a warm room by about 10 percent. So, in the winter, make sure that you close all of your draperies at night, as well as draperies that don’t receive any sunlight to warm them up during the day.
Find The Perfect Energy Efficient Solution At Arjay’s
Isn’t it good knowing that you’ll save money and use the Earth’s energy resources more efficiently and sparingly by properly covering your windows? The sun is a powerful force that easily invades our homes, and having the correct window treatments that fit your windows can go a long way in drastically reducing your overall energy bill.
Whether you’re covering the windows of your commercial business building or you’re an apartment manager that’s looking for the right solution for a new set of units, you can trust the experienced and knowledgeable professionals at Arjay’s Window Fashions to help you find the right solution that matches your budget and your interior design needs. From Roman blinds to vertical blinds and honeycomb blinds, give us a call today to get set up with the right type of window treatments!
