Green is a buzzword these days, and we’re not all using it the same way. Awareness of environmental issues is at a all-time high, businesses are responding to consumer demands, and there are lots of discussions about ‘green’. This is a good thing all around, but there are different types of green, and sometimes it helps to differentiate green from green. In a prior blog post, we talked about one type of green window treatments, also called eco-friendly window treatments, in terms of manufacturing of the product – meaning, the eco-friendliness in terms of chemicals, resources, etc. used in the manufacturing of the product.
The ‘other green’ refers to the impact on energy usage over the life of the product and is more directly linked to your electricity bill. In this case, green shades and green blinds are those that insulate or prevent heat absorption, two common ways to reduce the need for heating and cooling. Some products do one or the other well, some do both.
For green blinds, this usually means keeping the heat out, because blinds make a good barrier to the sun’s energy but not insulation. For green shades, this can mean a heat barrier or insulation or both. In general, it means anything you do that helps you turn off the heat or AC!
First, let’s define the two most common ways in which green shades or blinds are actually green and how they help keep your bills down and conserve resources, in other words, what makes a window treatment green:
Heat blocking
Heat blocking means keeping the radiant energy of the sun outside of your house. As the energy of the sun strikes a window and comes inside, the energy heats the floor, furniture, walls, and anything else it reaches (UV rays may damage different surfaces also, but that’s another story.) Window treatments that cause that radiant energy to be bounced back outside help to keep your house cooler and allow you to turn off your AC, or if it’s set at a certain temperature, make it run less often. This saves energy and cost, and this is what makes heat blocking ‘green’.
Insulation
One of the potentially confusing things about what makes a green window treatment green is that insulation is also heat blocking! While insulating window treatments help keep heat out (like heat blocking blinds and shades), in practice it’s usually considered that insulation is for keeping heat IN during winter.
How to choose
Most blinds will block light and heat from coming into your house, however only insulated blinds will also keep heat in during the winter. If you need insulating blinds, consider cellular, insulated roman shades, and shutters. If you only need to block light, then you can choose any style that you like. The simplest way to block light and heat (without insulation) is with solar screens, which are stylish, functional and lower cost than many other types of blinds.
