(NAPSI)—A good way to reduce your home’s cooling costs could be made in the shade—that is, if you use external solar shade screens.
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.
Exterior solar shade screens absorb and dissipate a large percentage of solar heat and glare before they reach windows and doors; this keeps the window glass and home interior cool. This method of cooling is considered to be superior to glass tinting, which filters the light along with the UV rays.
Solar screening works by reducing the volume of light without filtering. As the glass filters sunlight through the tint, it will maintain heat, which dissipates into the house, making sun control screens more effective than glass tinting for energy savings.
Using Solar Screening Is Cost-Effective
Many solar screen payback period estimates fall between two and three cooling seasons. According to a recent University of Texas study, there is a 32 percent energy cost savings for an average home.
According to the experts at ScreenItAgain, an online source for custom replacement screens and grilles, the right solar screens don’t have to darken your exterior. While UV blockage is 65 percent to 90 percent, actual visibility is diminished by only 15 percent to 40 percent, depending on the screening fabric selected. Light dissipated through solar screening is not tinted, but it is reduced in volume, allowing for good light with reduced glare.
Houseplants can grow just as well with this type of shading. Most houseplants require filtered light. In fact, shading reduces yellowing of plants and water loss. In most cases, houseplants do better with shading than without but, as with all plants, they will require some amount of direct sunlight.
As well as the added benefit of providing cooling, the screens also offer insect protection.
For more information, visit www.screenitagain.com/solar.
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