It’s been raining here. I mean really raining. Not quite Biblical proportions, but enough for me to long for the warm days of summer. If I’m totally honest, I’m fed up with winter and long to be outside. And I’m not the only one who’s done with the cold, the dark and the wet.
I was talking with one of our marketing people here at Phantom, who has just moved into a new condo. They got hit with a big “catch up” energy bill, because the utility company had underestimated their first bill. And then we got talking about saving energy, reducing fuel bills and retractable screens. OK, so it’s not the most riveting water cooler conversation, but that’s how we roll round here!
Anyway, we came up with five great ways to save money with retractable screens. And here they are:
1. Lookin’ out my back door
So it might seem obvious, but the easiest and least expensive way to cool your home and lower its temperature is to fling open the doors and windows and let in the breeze. But the warmer weather brings the bugs, which is why installing our retractable screens on your home allows you to enjoy a refreshing breeze without turning on the electricity-guzzling air conditioning unit.
2. Blame it on the sunshine
Did you know that many screen mesh fabrics can keep your home from getting really hot from the sunshine? Or to use a more technical term reduce “solar heat gain”. There are different benefits with different types of mesh – from total blackout mesh that provides sun protection but blocks your views, to meshes that block the UV rays while keeping your views and letting the breeze in. And the great thing is, if you have a cooler home, you have smaller energy bills. That’s what I call a win-win.
3. Outside
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, “A good way to keep your house cool in the summer is to shade it from the outside. Any way that stops the sun before it gets through the glass is seven times as good at keeping you cool as blinds or curtains on the inside.” So here’s a shameless plug for our retractable screens. You can have them installed on the exterior of your home to help cool it by reflecting, absorbing and dispersing solar heat and glare before it penetrates the glass in your windows and doors. Cool, eh?
(By the way, if you go to www.textinergie.org/en/home.html you can actually quantify energy savings that can be made by using retractable screens and other exterior textiles.)
4. Automatically sunshine
I love that our Executive motorized screens can be lowered and retracted at the touch of a button. But even better, you can connect the screens to sun sensor controls that automatically lower the screens during warmer times of the day to reduce solar heat gain even when you are not at home. So now you can reduce your energy bills when you’re not thinking about it!
5. The cool, cool, cool of the evening…
Many homeowners are creating new outdoor living spaces by screening in their patios, decks and lanais. And one benefit of that is that, depending on the selected mesh, you can keep air-conditioned air in the screened area and keep the space cool while the screens are lowered. So when you combine that with the solar-blocking qualities of mesh, you get a truly energy efficient screen solution that also expands your living space!
Oh, and just in case you were wondering – the five tips above are the title of five great songs. If you click on the links below, you can listen to them in all their random glory!
- Lookin’ out my back door – Credence Clearwater Revival
- Blame it on the boogie – Michael Jackson
- Outside – Taylor Swift
- Automatically sunshine – The Supremes
- The cool, cool, cool of the evening… – Bing Crosby
Have you got any energy saving tips? How do you keep cool without air conditioning in the summer? I’d love to know your thoughts…