Cellular Shades Recommendations for Energy Efficiency
The typical US family spends close to $1,300 a year on their
home's utility bills.
Heating and cooling your home uses more energy and drains more energy
dollars than any other system in your home. Typically, 44% of your
utility bill goes for heating and cooling.
Heat lost through windows can account for 10% to 25% of your heating
bill.
During the summer, sunny windows make your air conditioning work two to
three times harder.
By using a few inexpensive energy-efficient measures,
including installing cellular shades, you can reduce
your energy bills by 10% to 50%.
Acknowledgements to Comfortex Window Fashions for the above information.
*Price is for a 36 x 60 shade.
** "R-Value"
is a measure of a given material's resistance to heat flow - how well it
resists heat gain or loss. In short, the higher the R-value, the better the
insulation it will provide for you.
*** Hunter Douglas Duette Shade fabrics are run through the dying process 3 times. This process ensures your shade color will not fade over time. All of the other shade materials are dyed once.
Your windows themselves have and R-value. A typical window has an R-value
ranging from 0.9 to 3.0. (To put this in perspective, the insulation that is
used to build a home today has an R-value in the low 40s).
Several factors influence the R-value of your windows:
Type of glazing material
Number of layers of glass
Size of the air space between the glass layers
Thermal resistance of the frame and spacer materials
"Tightness" of the installation
R-Value and your Window Treatments
The window treatments you select also have an R-value. The higher the
R-value, the more insulating benefits you'll receive. Adding cellular shades
to your windows can block as much as 62% of the heat transfer through a
window pane according to Alliant Energy.