Increasing Home Heating And Cooling Efficiency: Choosing Between Window Tints And Vegetation
Posted on: 12 January 2016
Every year your heating and cooling bills keep increasing and you're at your wits end. Thankfully, you've heard of people who utilize various efficiency-boosting methods, such as tinting their windows and growing vegetation around their home. Choosing between these options requires understanding their benefits and whether or not they suit your home's needs.
Why People Choose Tinting
Adding a tint to your home's windows has the potential of eliminating nearly 99% of all UV light and keeps heat from transferring between the inside and outside of your home. In the summer, this means that less heat will be absorbed by your furniture, floors, and walls, greatly reducing excessive temperatures. In the winter, the tint will help keep the heat from your furnace from leaking outside.
Beyond the increase in efficiency, there is the fact that home window tinting is relatively inexpensive: many people spend only $300–$500 tinting the windows of their home. And in the past, the government has actually offered $500 tax credits for people who tint their windows, rewarding them for attempting to increase their energy-use efficiency.
Why People Choose Vegetation
Adding a variety of vegetation around the exterior of your home is a beautiful way to increase your home's heating efficiency. This is often the choice of people who live in more rural areas and who already want to add decoration to their home. Commonly, people plant trees, shrubs, vines, and other windbreaks to cut their energy bills by as much as 40%.
The trickiest part about utilizing this method is choosing the right plants and planting them properly. For example, vines placed along the walls may add an insulation quality, while a bank of trees may block a home from cold winter winds. Additionally, trees planted near a home can provide shade in summer months and decrease the excessive heat.
Other Considerations
When making the decision between these two methods, take a moment to consider your home and it's location. Window tinting is obviously the best choice if you live in an apartment and have no control over the exterior of your home. However, if you own a home that is located in a large field that receives a lot of wind, vegetation may be your best option.
After all, window tints aren't going to be able to control the way that winds sap your walls of heat. However, vegetation is less efficient when it comes to controlling UV light and heat.
After you've made the decision to invest in one of these energy-saving methods, it's important to contact someone who can help you install it. While you may be able to add window tints to your home or plant shrubs, there's a good chance you might do it improperly. If you're looking for a professional to install window tints, check out companies such as MidAmerica Tint for more information on available options.
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