Living Like Ed - (Page 38) Curtains, blinds, shades, and shutters are a fantastic way to add color and texture to a room. They give you a great RACHELLE’S opportunity to show off an accent color from a couch or bring TURN a new, dramatic feel into your bedroom. They can make an impressive interior design statement. But did you know they’re also a great way to save energy? This is especially true in the winter. At night when it’s cooler, just close your curtains to keep the heat in your home. In the morning when you wake up, push the curtains back and let the sun shine in to brighten and warm up your rooms. It’s so simple, but it really can lower your heating bill, which saves you energy . . . and gives you more money to spend on clothes and makeup! 38 It’s important to mention that not all window treatments go on the inside of your home. You can mount awnings outside—particularly on south- and west-facing windows—to block the hot summer sun. As you know, the sun is much higher in the sky during the summer. Awnings—as well as eaves and overhangs on the outside of a house—will block that really hot summer sun, reducing your cooling costs. When the sun gets lower in the sky in the wintertime, as it moves toward the winter solstice, it’s able to reach beneath the awnings and hit your windows, helping to heat your rooms for free. That is the beauty of the wraparound porches that you see on older homes, particularly in the South. But you don’t have to do a major remodel to get these same benefits in your home. Relatively inexpensive awnings are a very effective way to turn your home into a passive solar house. You can achieve a similar effect by planting deciduous trees—trees that lose their leaves in the fall and winter. Plant them on the south side of your home—and perhaps to the west and east as well—where they will shade your house from the bakBlock the UV Rays with Window Film ing sun in summer. And in winterCOST: from $3 per time, what happens? The leaves square foot drop off those trees, allowing the sun to warm your house. living like Ed and the better it works to insulate your home and conserve energy. A hundred pounds of cellulose
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.