Upping the Effectiveness of Your Green Home with Tinted Windows

We all know that creating a green environment around our homes is an important endeavor. Our environment depends on our willingness to go through the extra effort to create our green lifestyle. There are various green products and methods that can be turned to in order to reduce our carbon footprints. Home renovation is one major area that will allow us to reduce our carbon footprint. Within that category, modifying windows will go a long way in reducing our effect on the environment.

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The Problem with Windows

Windows and wasteful practices during the summer. Heat and solar energy seeps through windows into the home. The result? People seeking to escape the unbearable heat will crank up the air conditioning. As the air conditioning battles against the constant flow of heat in the house through the windows, energy is wasted.

Windows and wasteful practices during the winter. Even if your home is well insulated, the windows offer a gap in your insulation for the weather to take advantage of. Insulation is important to green homes because it decreases the amount of energy it takes to create a livable temperature. If your windows are not insulated during the winter, your heater will have to be turned higher to battle the cold.

A Possible Solution: Window Tint

Window tint will prevent your green home from wasting energy that should not be wasted. Window tint works by blocking the UV rays from the sun. The amount of UV rays blocked depends on the type of window tint applied to windows.

For green purposes, low-e window film is the best. Low e-window film reduces the heat that the house gains by up to 75 percent with a combination of improved insulation and UV ray blocking capabilities. As an added bonus part of the UV rays capabilities include the ability to reduce the glare that invades the home through the window.

Although window tint certainly contributes to a greener environment, you do not need window tint to create a greener home. There are other methods to insulate your windows. Black out curtains, cellular blinds, weather-stripping, and energy panels can also increase the energy efficiency of your windows. Window tint is just a more effective method of increasing the green capabilities of your home.

Author: Nicholas Haywood

Photo: TLC.How Stuff Works