During the radical temperature changes most people experience throughout the changing of the seasons, it’s difficult to feel comfortable in your own home without the assistance of a heating or cooling system. People often crank up the heat to get rid of that initial chill that travels up your spine from walking out into the winter cold, or to pump the air conditioning to relieve themselves from the sweat dripping down their foreheads.
However, what many people don’t consider is how windows and fixtures in the home can affect the indoor temperature. By increasing or decreasing the amount of sunlight entering a home, one can find they have more control over their home’s natural temperature than they thought.
Awnings, for example, are a great addition to a home for entertaining friends and family on your back deck or patio. It can keep the glare from the sun out of their eyes or block any precipitation that may find it’s way over your house. However their functionality far extends social gatherings.
When extended, the window treatments can block the sun’s rays from streaming through your windows, reducing the heat gain inside your home by a whopping 77%. Such a drastic drop in heat can almost eliminate the need for air conditioning.
In fact, a study conducted by the Center for Sustainable Building Research at the University of Minnesota, found that the reduced use of cooling systems thanks to the use of awnings lead to a 15% reduction of cooling energy costs in a typical home. The amount of money that you would save in utilities overtime would easily pay off the price of purchase and installation of the awning as well as save you money for years to come.
The financial advantages are not the only benefits of window treatments. If environmental conservation is your concern then these energy savings should be of particular interest to you. With lower energy usage comes the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions harming the environment.
Outdoor awnings and different types of shades or window treatments are one of the best and easiest modern methods of lowering energy usage. Whether it be for environmental conservation or financial reasons, window treatments may be the answer to your problems.
