Moving into the shade on a hot summer day feels great!
Window treatmentsengineered to keep your home cool provide “shade” to the inside of your home in a similar way.
Compared with insulated walls and roofs, window panes are the weak link when it comes to managing temperature in the home. As much as half of a home’s heating and cooling can be lost through windows even though they only make up about 10% of a home’s exterior. Even if your windows are sealed from air leaks, the sun can dramatically raise the temperature of your space during summer.
If you want to enjoy sunlight in your home and take control of the impact outside temperatures have on our space, you’re in the right place! Select Hunter Douglas’ window treatments are engineered to provide energy savings.
Read on to learn more about maintaining cool temperatures with less reliance on air conditioning!
1. Block Sun Rays (Solar Heat Control)
Sunlight heats up a home by warming the air and furnishings it touches. Everything the sun has warmed, including furniture, radiates additional heat.
Window treatments with solar heat control keep the home cool by reflecting sunlight back out the window before it has a chance to impact the indoor environment. Luckily, this can be done without shutting out the sun completely.
Hunter Douglas window treatments engineered for solar heat control are capable of reducing the amount of heat that enters the home from the sun through windows by up to 80%.
As you can imagine, an 80% reduction on the amount of heat entering a home can greatly reduce the amount of air conditioning required to maintain a cool temperature, ultimately maintaining comfortable temperatures while saving money on your energy bill!
The best Hunter Douglas window treatments forsolar heat controlbased on Hunter Douglas’s comparison testing:
- Duette® Architella® Trielle™ Elan® 1.5″ Opaque Honeycomb Shades
- Duette® Architella® 3/8″ Semi-Opaque Honeycomb Shades
- Palm Beach™ Polysatin™ Shutters
- Duette® Architella® 1.25″, 3/8″ and 3/4″ Opaque Honeycomb Shades
- NewStyle® Hybrid Shutters
2. Block Outdoor Heat (Insulation)
Insulating window treatments slow the transfer of heat from the outdoors into the home.
While not quite as effective at keeping out heat during summer as window treatments with solar heat control, insulating window treatments have the ability to provide energy savings during the summer and winter.
The best Hunter Douglas window treatments forinsulation based on Hunter Douglas’s comparison testing:
Duette® Architella® Trielle™ Elan® 1.5″ Semi-Opaque Honeycomb Shades
Duette® Architella® 1.25″ Semi-Opaque Honeycomb Shades
Duette® Architella® 1.25″, 3/8″ and 3/4″ Opaque Honeycomb Shades
NewStyle® Hybrid Shutters
Hunter Douglas’s Duette® Honeycomb Shades in Architella®. Fabric/Material: Classic. Color: Greenbriar. Opacity: Semi-Opaque.
3. Automated Open and Close Schedules
Hunter Douglas’sPowerView® Motorization makes keeping your home cool during summer easier to manage.
For maximum energy efficiency during summer, window treatments should remain closed during the warmest hours of the day. But that’s not always realistic! We have windows so that we can enjoy the view outdoors, take in natural light and breathe fresh air.
Automated and motorized window treatments can be scheduled to open in the morning while you get ready for work and close as you leave, letting you enjoy sunlight during the small window of time when you are in the home without any manual effort or thought. By keeping windows closed while you are not at home, you can maintain ideal temperatures in your home without drawbacks.
On days while you are at home, you can activate an open-close schedule that is aligned with the place the sun is at in the sky and the direction each window is facing. For example, as the sun sets in the west the most intense sunlight will be streaming through west-facing windows. You can set west-facing window treatments to close at the highest impact times while opening other window treatments, allowing natural light to enter the room without some of the drawbacks that come from direct, intense sun rays. These pre-scheduled settings can be activated by voice command or by pressing a button on a remote, smartphone or tablet.
More information:
10 Ways Motorized Shades Make Life Easier
The Complete List of Window Treatments Compatible with PowerView®Motorization
Which Feature Should I Prioritize?
Motorized and automated window treatments provide a full range of benefits and can greatly reduce the effort required to maintain optimal energy efficiency practices. Fortunately, there are many different Hunter Douglas window treatment styles with energy saving features that are compatible with PowerView® Motorization.
Choosing between solar heat control and insulation depends in part on priorities.
Solar heat control is the best window treatment feature to prioritize for keeping your home cool during the summer, but it does not provide year-round benefits.
Insulation will help save energy and maintain comfortable temperatures all year round, but insulation is more effective during winter because temperature differences between the inside and outside of the home are more dramatic. During winter, the difference in temperature can be as much as 70°F and during summer, the temperature difference is rarely more than 30°F.
Fortunately, some window treatment stylesprovide solar heat control and insulation in equal measure!
The best Hunter Douglas window treatments for insulation and solar heat control based on Hunter Douglas’s comparison testing:
The Duette® Architella® Trielle™ Elan® 1.5″ Opaque Honeycomb Shades received a six star ranking in both Insulation and Solar Heat Control in Hunter Douglas tests. This is the only Hunter Douglas window treatment to rank with a sixth star in any category. The two window treatments that received a five star ranking in both Insulation and Solar Heat Control areDuette® Architella® 1.25″, 3/8″ and 3/4″ Opaque Honeycomb Shades and NewStyle® Hybrid Shutters.
Hunter Douglas Duette® Honeycomb Shades in Architella® and Trielle™. Fabric/Material: Elan®. Color: Volcanic Ash.
Are you convinced?
A one-time purchase of window treatments canprevent pumping additional air conditioning into your space to compensate for heat gain during summer months.
But that’s not all!
There are many other benefits that window treatments can provide, such as UV protection which prevents furnishings from yellowing, fading and breaking down prematurely from sun exposure.
For expert assistance on the window treatment features that best meet your needs, we recommend that you take advantage of ourFREE one-on-one at-home consultationwith a JC Light window treatment’s expert.
Click the button below to sign up for your no-risk appointment, today!
To learn more about the many other benefits of window treatmentsbefore your appointment, check out our recommended 11 key considerations before purchasing window treatments.
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