Using window treatments for temperature control

Windows can be both a friend and an enemy to the energy efficiency of your home: They are an ideal resource for harnessing heat from the sun, while at the same time, a potential source of waste, leaking your heated or cooled air and increasing your energy bills. Indeed, your windows are responsible for as much as 20 percent of the energy loss in your home. With a few tips, you can harness your windows’ power without the waste.

We can take few tips from passive solar homes, which are designed to work in harmony with nature by capturing thermal energy through the strategic use of glass and shade. But even without a solar house, you can learn to use the sun as your own personal heater—simply turn it off and on with the use of shades or blinds. Here are a few considerations for easy year-round energy maximization.

Keep out the cold

For insulating your windows in the winter months, one of the best options is cellular shades, which feature pockets that create layers between your snug living space and the chilly outdoors. Cellular shades come in varying levels of thickness: singe cell, double cell and triple cell. The higher the thickness, the better the insulation.

Roman shades with an insulated liner are also good options. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Roman shades act as both insulation and barrier to the cold air. Adding drapes around shades creates an additional blockage between the cold air and your home.

Keep shades open during the day on windows that get full sun to welcome solar warmth, and close them when the sun sets to create a barrier against the colder temperatures. On windows that don’t get a lot of sun, keep shades closed to protect your room from the cool air that may seep through the glass, and add drapes on top of that for even greater insulation. White and light-colored window treatments filter in some sunlight to prevent a room from feeling too dark and dreary.

Block out the heat 

In warmer climates or summer months, shades can still act as a buffer, but in the opposite way: keeping the heat out and the cool air inside. Especially helpful on west- and south-facing windows, shades block the strong summer sun to keep a room comfortable. Blackout shades are particularly effective in blocking out heat and keeping rooms cooler.

Shutters and blinds are also an effective option at keeping heat out, according to the U.S. Department of Energy: “When completely closed and lowered on a sunny window, highly reflective blinds can reduce heat gain by around 45 percent. They can also be adjusted to block and reflect direct sunlight onto a light-colored ceiling. A light-colored ceiling will diffuse the light without much heat or glare.

As the position and strength of the sun changes throughout the day and the year, using and adjusting window treatments strategically in your home will help you maximize their energy-saving effects.

Read our roundup of ways to be more efficient with windows and doors