Energy Savings 101: Window Treatments

Homeowners looking to promote energy savings through window treatments have their choice from a wide variety of types, depending on what they hope to achieve. Here’s a brief survey of some of the most popular window treatments available, and what level of energy savings you can expect.

Draperies

Curtains or draperies are among the best known window treatments. They work well for keeping sunlight out in the summer, and preventing heat loss in the winter. Close-woven draperies are a good idea for keeping heat in. A darker color will absorb more sunlight, while a lighter color will reflect more heat. As you can see, the type of drapes you choose will depend on what you want to accomplish as well as the direction the window faces.

Blinds

Interior blinds are an effective way to reduce summer heat gain. When completely closed they can reduce heat gain by as much as 45 percent. But blinds are not much help for keeping warm air in during the winter because of the openings between the slats.

Exterior blinds are also available. They are raised and lowered to control ventilation, heat loss and solar gain.

Awnings

Awnings have been vastly improved in recent years. Made of resilient synthetic fabric, they last a long time, and can be treated to resist mold and fading. They can reduce heat gain on sunny, south-facing windows by up to 65 percent. Awnings are also versatile in that they can be installed to shade varying sizes of space, from a single window to a much larger area.

Window Film

High-reflectivity window film is most often used in warmer climates to reduce solar gain. However, it is also helpful on east- and west-facing windows in cooler climates such as ours, when sunlight can warm up a room too much. The challenge in using these reflective films in our climate is not to diminish sunlight too much in the winter.

To learn more about window treatments and how they can help you save energy, contact Energy 1 Heating and Air Conditioning. We serve Lorain County, including Elyria and Oberlin.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about window treatments and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 440-201-2959.

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