As the A/C blasts away at the oppressive heat of summer, your power bills fly through the roof. It seems like you’re left with two choices: turn it down and sweat, or leave it at a comfortable level and break the bank. Solar shades provide one attractive option to stay cool and keep money in your pocket.
What Are Solar Shades?
Solar shades are window coverings that are designed to block UV radiation from entering a home, along with most of the heat from direct sunlight. Though lightweight compared to traditional insulated window covering panels, the solar shade offers a marked reduction in heat transfer throughout the year.
What Do They Look Like?
Unlike solid and often dark blackout curtains or insulated panels, solar shades bring an airy feeling to a room because natural light can still enter. In fact, some solar shade designs allow a perfectly unobstructed view of the outdoors while keeping your home comfort costs down. They are available in a wide range of neutral colors and chic, modern designs.
How Will They Benefit My Home?
For a solution that costs relatively little, solar shades offer a lot of different benefits aside from lower energy bills. These include:
Reduced damage from UV rays inside the house. From faded upholstery to a higher risk of skin cancer, excessive UV is bad news in your interior spaces.
Fewer “hot spots” throughout your home. Ever had the thermometer show a perfect indoor temperature, yet you’re still uncomfortably warm? That’s often caused by weak points in your home’s insulation – usually inefficient windows – that allow the outdoor heat to seep in.
Lower A/C maintenance costs. The less you run your air conditioning unit, the less seasonal maintenance it requires.
Less glare on interior surfaces. Direct sunlight bounces off of TV screens, mirrors, glass, and other reflective surfaces, causing painfully bright spots. Solar shades reduce eye strain and discomfort by preventing too-bright light from entering your home.
For more information on solar shades and other ways to reduce cooling costs in your Broken Arrow home, contact us at Air Assurance.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “OpenClipart-Vectors_pixabay”