Window Covering Answers

Every once in awhile I find an article that has some promising design for furthering passive solar housing... this is a new one... enjoy! http://www.britishhomesawards.com/archive/AeroSolarDeckHouse

  Synergistic Building Technologies Insulating shutters for greenhouses may have some applications for residential homes with a view to future energy savings. With the increased interest in "smart home technologies", shutters that operate electronically may be useful for those who live in harsher climates. Synergistic Building Technologies may have several of the answers to better control of energy with window systems. Follow the link below to find new ways of providing a better life for yourself and others. Insulating shutters seem to offer a new way of looking at an old system. This greenhouse offers a giant step forward towards community self sufficiency. This technology could spark an application for homes too. At least I would hope so... homes of all kinds could benefit from such innovative light and heat control. Pocket shutters operated electronically seem like a giant leap forward. Here is the link for synergistic building technologies: http://www.syn

Summer brings its own challenges. Here in Canada our windows, walls, roofs, doorways are all designed to hold the heat and we suffer in the summer from our winterized homes. Some window films can help this but works against us in the winter when passive solar can help to heat the house. Awnings are one answer to providing shade for the home during the hottest months.  Bamboo blinds are another answer.  In the South Asian continent bamboo blinds are sprayed with water in order to provide a type of air conditioning.

 

Image via Wikipedia This house could be heated entirely with a hairdryer. The windows were triple glazed and on some sides of the building there were insulated shutters. All more than 33 years ago in 1978. Sometimes some advances are before their time. Recently a German physicist named Dr. Wolfgang Feist resurrected and improved on the energy saving ideas of the Saskatchewan Conservation House. The Tyee – Step Inside the Real Home of the Future: Passivhaus Related articles What Is a Passivhaus? (matternetwork.com)      The Rise of the Passive House [The Tyee] (jetsongreen.com) Efficiency could cut world energy use over 70 per cent (newscientist.com) Super-efficient Passive House standard draws fans (news.cnet.com) Passive House Going Up in New York (jetsongreen.com) Image via Wikipedia

The following site has a huge compendium of energy saving tips, gadgets and new ways of looking at old problems. I suspect I will return to this site again and again. There are so many ways of insulating windows and living more comfortably with a smaller energy footprint.  I have not examined the section on window coverings, but I am impressed with the innovative techniques displayed here. http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/conservation.htm#WindowTreatments

Image via Wikipedia No one likes to - compromise. No one. We want what we want and we want it now! At the window it is all about compromise. Windows and doors occupy a significant metaphorical space in our heads. They are the point at which exterior and interior lives meet.  Sometimes our desire is for shutting things out, other times it is for inviting the world to participate in our lives as we live them, sometimes a window covering will allow both. But that is rare.  Just about as rare as getting two partners to agree on the same window covering. It happens, but only after considerable comment and sometimes one or the other caves...it doesn't seem to matter if it's two men, two women or a man and a woman. Compromise is necessary.