Most of us have experienced the desire to block out the harsh summer sun entering our homes and offices through a window. Internal blinds can certainly keep a home cooler, but is there more that can be done by homeowners to make their home more comfortable and reduce power bills at the same time? External blinds and other shading could be the answer homeowners are looking for.
I spoke with Jenny Brown, National Marketing Manager at Luxaflex Window Fashions, and she said that over 30% of unwanted heat gain in summer takes place through a building’s windows. So shading these windows is extremely important, as direct sunlight passing through the window into the home will heat up the inside, which during the hotter months can mean running expensive air-conditioning to cool the home. She adds that you also want to be able to retract the shading in the cooler months to utilise the radiant heat from the sun to warm your home to reduce the reliance on running expensive heating (like the Luxaflex® Evo Awning pictured below, which can save up to 60% off cooling costs p.a.)
So what are the advantages of external blinds and shutters?
- They block the sun out before it even hits the window, and so are more effective at keeping the solar heat gain out of the home.
- They can look great and increase the value of the home
- They can keep the sun out with the windows still being open, which isn’t the case for all internal blinds such as venetians or roller blinds.
- They can provide much needed privacy – for example to bedrooms and bathrooms at the front of a home.
- protect windows in harsh weather such as hailstorms.
- They can make a house feel cooler in summer, by cutting out the glare of direct or reflected sunlight, but still leaving windows open to any natural breeze.
And what are the negatives?
- All good things come at a price, and the cost is often the downside to installing external shade devices
- They can block out the desirable winter sun if they are not tilt-able or retractable
- They can decrease the value of a home if they begin to look worn.
- Some people just don’t like the look of external shade devices, although with such a range to choose from, there is generally a style to suit most house designs and owner tastes.
But did you know that external blinds can also be effective against a home’s heat loss in winter?
Jenny Brown from Luxaflex Windows Fashions points out that Window coverings and shading solutions can play an important role in keeping the house warm in winter, just as they do keeping the house cool in summer, as they provide an external insulation barrier to reduce the heat passing through the windows, controlling the room’s temperature and making significant energy savings in the home.
Will the addition of external shading improve the Star Rating on my home?
All new homes and major renovations in Australia need to pass the Energy Efficiency Provisions of the National Construction Code Series, most commonly by achieving a 6-Star energy rating. This rating is based on the area-adjusted amount of energy that would be required to heat and cool the home to a comfortable temperature throughout the year.
While external shading devices are included among the inputs to the calculation engine that produces the NatHERS Ratings, they typically do not make a significant difference to the star rating that a home achieves. Typically the rating improvement will be between 0.1 to 0.8 Stars, which is doesn’t sound like much, but it can be the difference between your home achieving the required rating of 6.0 Stars. And 0.5 of a star can translate into hundreds of dollars of saving on energy bills each year.
If your home already needs lots of insulation, the installation of a couple of external shade devices on your Western windows can be cheaper than increasing the insulation in your ceiling to get your house to rate above 6.0 Stars. It can also make those rooms far more comfortable on a summer afternoon – perhaps significant if the room is often used in the afternoons for homework or food prepartion, for example.
What else can I do to reduce unwanted heat loss and heat gain trhough my windows?
Installing blinds or curtains on all your windows is definitely going to assist, but if you want the current gold standard in energy efficient window treatments, head over to Luxaflex and check out their Luxaflex® Duette® Architella® insulating blind range. You might be surprised at how the insulation is achieved.