While the primary benefit of awnings is to provide cool areas outside your home so you can enjoy being in the sun safely even when it is boiling hot, this is not their only upside. Awnings can also help reduce your energy bills, especially if you install a retractable model.
Why do awnings offer potential energy savings, and how can you take advantage of this benefit? Find out below.
Save on Summer Air Conditioning Costs
During summer months, your home may be so hot inside that you keep your air conditioning on most or even all of the time. This is an effective but expensive way of keeping the inside of your house cool. If you install a retractable awning outside your home, then you may see your energy costs go down because you won’t have to use air conditioning as much.
Without cover, your windows and patio doors absorb the sun’s rays and heat up. Even your walls get hot. All this heat spreads into your home. Plus, any floors or furniture that are the in path of sun shining through glass also get hot, adding to the overall temperature inside.
If you put an awning over these windows, doors and walls, then you shade them from the sun. This stops them from heating up as much and reduces heat transfer into your home. Plus, your awning shades anything inside that would otherwise sit in direct sunlight.
If an awning keeps the interior of your home cooler, then you won’t need to use your air conditioner as much to keep things at a comfortable temperature. The less you use your system, the less you pay in utility bills.
Save on Winter Heating Costs
Unlike fixed awnings, which stay up permanently, you can pick and choose when to use a retractable awning. For example, you’ll typically keep the awning shut away during colder months because you don’t need it.
The flexibility to choose when to open or retract an awning also has some winter heating cost benefits. The fact that you can stow the awning in its casing leaves your windows open to the elements again, and warm sunshine can enter your home..
While sun may not be as strong in the winter as in the summer, it can still heat up your windows, patio doors and walls. This heat transfers inside your home, keeping it a little warmer. While an awning may not reduce your heating costs as much as it cuts your air conditioning bills in the summer, it still makes a difference.
Maximising Energy Savings
The following tips may help boost any energy savings you get from a retractable awning:
- Make sure that your awning is in place in the early morning in summer. Early morning sun may be weaker than it is later in the day, but it still transfers heat inside. If your awning gives shade as soon as the sun comes up, then your house will be cooler when you get out of bed.
- Consider using a large awning that spreads across the whole side of your house rather than having a couple of small ones over individual windows or patio doors. Walls also transfer heat; an awning gives them shade too.
- Look at auto retractable awnings with weather sensors. These sensors open and close awnings automatically when the weather changes. This means you won’t miss out on potential shade savings even if you aren’t around to adjust your awning manually.
To find out more about how retractable awnings can keep you and your house cool enough to save money, contact us. Blind Outlet supplies a full range of retractable awnings, whether you’re looking for a manual or automatic style.
