How To Make Your Home's Windows More Energy Efficient
A great deal of your home's energy can escape through the windows, as glass is a good conductor of heat. Heat either passes into or out your windows during summer or winter, but there are several ways you can add treatments and additions to your windows to keep your interior home climate more controlled and save on your energy bill. Here are some ways you can do this.
Add Window Film
You can upgrade your home's windows by adding a window film, which can help if your window glass are single-paned and has less insulation and you live in a hot climate. Window film is added to the interior of your home windows, similar to a tint you can have applied to the interior of your vehicle windows. Once installed, it blocks sunlight and its UV rays from entering your home and heating up the interior, so this is a great solution for adding window film if you live in a southern or warmer climates.
Window film is made of polyester, PET, or Polyethylene Teraphthalate, which is the same material used to make water bottles. And this treatment is something you can do on your own without hiring someone to professionally install the window film. It comes in a roll, which you cut to fit your windows, then remove the adhesive backing and smooth it onto your windows.
Install Awnings
You can improve the appearance of your home's exterior and increase the energy efficiency of your windows by installing exterior window awnings. And don't worry about them wearing out after a few years, as exterior awnings installed above each window are made today of a durable and UV-resistant material, so they last for years in the elements.
Your window awnings will work along with the seasons to increase your home's efficiency. Each fixed window awning blocks sunlight during the day, especially when the sun is set high in the sky, as it is during the summer. This helps you keep the heat of summer from entering your home.
During the winter when the sun is lower along the horizon throughout the day, the angle of your window awnings don't block the sunlight from entering your home to warm its interior. Or you can install retractable awnings, which you can raise and lower as you need them to block sunlight.
Use these two methods along with the opening to upgrade and replace your windows with energy efficient frames and low-emissivity glass panes to keep the heat inside your home during winter and keep the heat outside your home during summer.