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Question: My house is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer, and my energy bills are on a roller coaster every year.  What do you suggest?

 

- Running hot and cold -

           

Answer:  For me, this is an easy one–at least the staying warm part of the equation.  I’d just pull out all of those lovely shawls I’ve been buying for years and model them around the house.  Although layering and unlayering clothes are solutions, there are plenty of other options for preventing heat loss in winter and blocking heat gain during summer. 

 

First of all, get rid of all your windows.  Just kidding, but windows are one of the house’s weakest spots for compromising your comfort.  That is why people who can afford it have been turning to double-pane windows.  In our mild climate, my shawls have a much better payback, and they are a lot cheaper.  If increasing comfort on a limited budget is what you are looking for, then read on.

 

Windows lose more heat than any other exterior surface of your home.  In the summer, windows let sunlight in and are the greatest source of heat gain–that's heat escaping through the glass on cold winter days or blasting in from the outside on hot, sunny days. 

 

Let’s start outside, where exterior roll-up shades may give you the biggest bang for the comfort buck.  Exterior shades (called “shades” for a reason) stop heat rays before they even enter your house.  Good quality exterior roll-up shades can give you the best of both worlds by allowing you to collect sun on cold days or prevent the sun from getting through a window on hot days–up in the winter, down on hot summer days.  Simple, cheap and effective.

 

Consider landscaping (a new way to express your personality) as another solution to your problem.  Strategically planting trees to shade windows is a good way to keep your home cool in the summer.  One type of tree, called a deciduous tree (try saying that three times in a row), loses its leaves in winter allowing the sun to shine through the bare branches.  These trees also provide full canopies of leaves in summer.  Shading western and southern exposures are ideal locations.  Be careful, large trees could envelop you in darkness as a seedling eventually overtakes the side of your house.  I can just see the film at the local theatre, “Gnarly Tree Swallows California Townhouse.”

 

Speaking of film, another effective method for managing your exposure to hot and cold weather is high-reflectivity window film.  In summer, film can reject up to 80 percent of the sun's heat.  In winter, it can prevent single-pane windows from losing a substantial amount of your home's heat by reflecting it back in.

 

High-reflectivity film is most effective on west-facing windows to reflect the hot summer afternoon sun.  Although south-facing windows may benefit somewhat from window film, the advantage could be offset by blocking the sun’s heat in the winter. 

 

Moving indoors now, I recommend light-colored window coverings or even mini-blinds.   Although they are not as effective as external coverings that stop the sun’s rays from entering your home in the first place, they can reflect heat back out and work like a blanket to keep in the warmth in when it’s cold.  Specially made “window quilts” can add a substantial barrier between the warm air in the room and the cold outside air. 

 

The trusty Internet will provide more information about the many window covering options.  Go to www.eere.energy.gov/consumer.