Punte domestiche quotidiane di rinnovamento

A few weeks ago we wrote an article titled Get Out Of The House wherein we described our visit to our local community energy conservation fair. And, we added a post script to that article indicating we had won an interior solar blind.

Today, we write about our new interior solar blind.

From the research we have done, there are two basic types (with numerous sub-types) of solar blinds; those which fit on the inside of the window and those which fit on the outside. This one was of the interior variety.

Our interior solar blind was provided by Southern Exposure Systems, a distributor and installer of a variety of solar related products including solar air heater, solar pool heater, solar hot water heater and solar blinds for residential, commercial and industrial applications.

One of the unique capabilities of this interior solar blind was that:

• on one side it was a reflector of many of the sun’s UV rays entering through the window as well as the resultant heat buildup caused by direct sun light while allowing at the same time one to view outside the window through the blind

• on the other side it is a passive solar collect producing, according to the company’s web site, 2096 BTU’s per hour for a 4 foot by 4 foot blind, as well as reducing night time heat loss  by adding to the window’s R value.

This interior solar blind can come in different forms. We selected the version that looked just like a window screen except that it covered the entire 3 ½ foot by 3 ½ foot window. We were excited about this product because through our participation in the ecoENERGY Retrofit grant program and energy audit on our home we have learned so much about home energy conservation products and strategies, including the existence of interior and exterior solar blinds.

Now, here are some pictures of what this actually looks like:

• the reflector side is silver in appearance

• the passive solar collector side is black.

Our chosen location for our free energy conservation product was our daughter’s basement bedroom. Why? Well, she had complained that the room was cold in the winter and in the summer, as we have previously written. So, our planned use was see if it would help to warm the room all year round; in other words, we planned to have the black side always facing out.

That way in the winter hopefully it might reduce the need for the portable heater that our daughter used some nights in her room during the winter, and thus conserve consumption of non-renewable resources and reduce our electric bill.

About a week after the energy conservation fair where we won the interior solar blind, John from Southern Exposure Systems came over, took the measurements of the window, also performed a free solar evaluation on our home which we will write about in another article. After about an hour, John left and we waited for the call informing us that our new interior solar blind to be ready to be delivered and installed.

Select this link to Part 2 where we discuss the installation and the results of our new product.