Newco Solar Solutions provides a number of custom products that can help to reduce heat and light that enters your home or business through windows and skylights. On a hot summer day, anyone sitting under at tree understands the cooling effect of shade, but many don’t realize just how effective it can be as a low-tech, low-cost way to staying cool.
According to our neighbors to the south, the California Energy Commission’s Consumer Energy Center suggests that shading your home, with trees and other vegetation, or with exterior and interior shades - can reduce the temperature indoors by as much as 20 degrees on a hot day, adding about 40 percent of the unwanted heat that builds up in your house comes in through windows. Sounds good but when it comes to your home’s interior, just what do they mean by shades? Fundamentally when it comes to window coverings there are blinds, shades and shutters. Blinds are window coverings that have slats or vanes that enable the raising and lowering of the blind to cover the window but also to adjust the aperture of the vanes when the blind is down to let in more or less light. A shade is either open, exposing the window or closed, covering the window. A shutter is typically a solid covering, often with slats that can be opened and closed to vary the light entering the room. When properly installed, window shades can be one of the simplest and most effective window treatments for saving energy. Shades are often regarded as a highly affordable option that is also quite stylish and functional. For the greatest efficiency, shades should be mounted as close to the glass as possible with the sides of the shade held close to the wall to establish a sealed air space. You should lower shades on sunlit windows in the summer. Shades on the south side of a house should be raised in the winter during the day, then lowered during the night. For an even greater efficiency, use dual shades - highly reflective (white) on one side and heat absorbing (dark) on the other side - that can be reversed with the seasons. The reflective surface should always face the warmest side, outward during the cooling season and inward during the heating season, and they need to be drawn all day to be effective. At Newco Solar Solutions, we manufacture Newco roller shades locally in Port Coquitlam using top-quality North American-made fabrics and hardware so you know they’ll last. To explore the many options and fabrics available visit Newco Solar Solutions to examine our products, or call 604-941-3111 for more information.