I have completed about 1/2 of the window film treatment and have already noticed a difference. I measured the window temperature on the inside bottom (the coldest part of the window since cold air falls) of both a north window with the film and without the firm. Both windows do not have any forced air heat on them and the window with the film on it is at this moment 57 F the other window sill 54 F. So there seems to be a small 2 degree difference but 2 is better than 0!
This film is suppose to bounce back 55% of the heat from the house in the winter and reflect out 72% of the heat in the summer. I am putting this on the north and west ends of the house only as I want to collect as much winter sun as I can during the winter months. Also on the south side when I put the screens back on in the summer I will keep out over 80% of the sun from coming in the house. The trouble with putting this film on the south side is that in the winter months it will block way to much sun! And energy from the sun is FREE and delivered to your home free of charge so why stop it form coming into your home? We seem to build a window and then not let the natural daylight come in to help heat your home.
And you have to remember that the summer sun goes very high in the sky and with such a high angle not as much sun goes through the south windows. I may consider putting a small shading device alone the top of the south windows (PV modules?) to shade them and using that energy to perhaps operate a solar evaporative cooler if need be.
The only film I plan to install on the south side is UV film that will block out 99% of the harmful UV rays that fade your furniture. Other than that the south side does not get the Titanium film. Oh and by the way the other film I am putting on also blocks about 99% of the UV to boot!
Well off to get some more window film!
John
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Well I just opened up my "UNITED NEWSLINE" December 2007 newletter and top story is their 8.4% price increase. So now this is all the more reason to strive to save electricity and "cut the cord". Why be subject yourself to constant inflation?
Our last bill was $57.00 and averages about that amount monthly. An 8.4% increase will add another $4.79 to it. That is $57.48 a year if we do nothing. It all adds up. That is what they do. Increase it little by little and the next thing you know your prices double...and guess what you have NOTHING to show for the service they give you nor do you own a thing either. You are a slave to their every whim and these are companies that fight renewable energy tooth and nail because they know that renewables reduce their revenue and at the same time they lose control over you as a customer. The exception is if THEY own the renewable energy source like a wind farm. Then they are all for renewabels....it is all about who control the revenue stream- you or them.
At present we are buying (renting) the electric service from a local Co-op called United Power.
Remember all systems in a house are interconnected. By insulating your windows at night (the sun here heats the house nicely during the day with our great south west exposure) the heat loss will be much less and therefore the MOTOR on our furnace will also operate less. So hopefully we will not see that price increase in our coming bills because by the time the price increase takes effect we will have decreased our electric bill by that percentage thus giving us the same electric bill as before.
As the saying goes. "Somethings got to "give"....in our case we are negating the current rate increase by reducing our heat loss. Once we "cut the cord" we will be done with ALL price increases sooner and get all our electricity form clean ON SITE energy. On site energy is the future of energy delivery and coupled with energy efficieny cannot be beat and will be the most economical way to have energy for your use.
Our last bill was $57.00 and averages about that amount monthly. An 8.4% increase will add another $4.79 to it. That is $57.48 a year if we do nothing. It all adds up. That is what they do. Increase it little by little and the next thing you know your prices double...and guess what you have NOTHING to show for the service they give you nor do you own a thing either. You are a slave to their every whim and these are companies that fight renewable energy tooth and nail because they know that renewables reduce their revenue and at the same time they lose control over you as a customer. The exception is if THEY own the renewable energy source like a wind farm. Then they are all for renewabels....it is all about who control the revenue stream- you or them.
At present we are buying (renting) the electric service from a local Co-op called United Power.
Remember all systems in a house are interconnected. By insulating your windows at night (the sun here heats the house nicely during the day with our great south west exposure) the heat loss will be much less and therefore the MOTOR on our furnace will also operate less. So hopefully we will not see that price increase in our coming bills because by the time the price increase takes effect we will have decreased our electric bill by that percentage thus giving us the same electric bill as before.
As the saying goes. "Somethings got to "give"....in our case we are negating the current rate increase by reducing our heat loss. Once we "cut the cord" we will be done with ALL price increases sooner and get all our electricity form clean ON SITE energy. On site energy is the future of energy delivery and coupled with energy efficieny cannot be beat and will be the most economical way to have energy for your use.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
WInter soltice coming - December 20th!
All my plugs are now "plugged" now....and the cold weather is now here!
The coldest month is upon us in Fort Lupton, CO and lots to be done before January (January's average night time low is 12° F) comes.
The worse heat loss area of ANY home has been and for some time into the future will be the WINDOWS of ones home. In our home we have 5 north windows, 7 south windows, one north sliding door, 4 windows to the west and only 3 windows facing east. So add all the windows and doors all up and we have a lot of glass square footage.
I am using a three-four level attack on the each window depending on its location on the house. To start with we have double pain windows with about a 1/4" air gap (the higher the better in general) which starts with about a R1.7 valve. With mini blinds on all windows I may have MAYBE an R2. Compare that to our walls with about an R25. A HUGE difference. My end goal is to have a windows with a R20 minimum and them when we replace the existing windows to have an R30 window.
Step one: Put window film on the inside glass that will retain up to 55% of the heat in the winter and keep OUT about 70% of the heat in the summer. This type of film will not go on all windows but just the west and north windows. The south windows will have no see un screens on them that block out over 80% of the sunlight which is what you want in the SUMMER but you want as much light as you can get in the winter. The only film that will go on the south side is film that will block out 99% of the harmful UV that causes fading of your furniture over time.
By putting film on the west side I keep out the afternoon sun that you do NOT want in the summer and keep as much heat in the house in the winter while letting daylight in. With film on the north windows I am retaining as much heat as I can during daylight hours and in our case when the sun gets way west when it sets in the summer it keeps the heat out. The house faces off to the west of south so in the summer months the sun actually goes through our north windows in the summer time towards the end of the day.
This may not increase the R value by much (maybe by 1) but it will reduce both the heating and cooling costs in the summer with a minimal effort. To achieve this I bought a one roll of window film named Titanium from a manufacturer called Gila Films, Inc. I tried it this weekend but I have to tell you it is a bitch to put on smoothly. I have no idea how the "professionals" do it (I would love to know or watch) but after going through a 36" x 15' role I was baffled as to how this stuff looks so good in their advertising. What bugs me is that they don't even have a video on their web site that DEMONSTRATES how to do this yourself. Yes the instructions are clear but their new product has the same instructions as the old products it seems to me. The new product has adhesive on the side that goes onto the window. I believe the old stuff does not. So this new stuff is a SOB to put on and not get bubbles or creases in it.
So if you want a really great looking job hire a professional to do it. Since we plan to replace the windows next year I won't lose any sleep over my work...the next roll hopefully will go on much better after I have a talk with the company who makes this stiff before I do this again!
I will talk about step two tomorrow.
The coldest month is upon us in Fort Lupton, CO and lots to be done before January (January's average night time low is 12° F) comes.
The worse heat loss area of ANY home has been and for some time into the future will be the WINDOWS of ones home. In our home we have 5 north windows, 7 south windows, one north sliding door, 4 windows to the west and only 3 windows facing east. So add all the windows and doors all up and we have a lot of glass square footage.
I am using a three-four level attack on the each window depending on its location on the house. To start with we have double pain windows with about a 1/4" air gap (the higher the better in general) which starts with about a R1.7 valve. With mini blinds on all windows I may have MAYBE an R2. Compare that to our walls with about an R25. A HUGE difference. My end goal is to have a windows with a R20 minimum and them when we replace the existing windows to have an R30 window.
Step one: Put window film on the inside glass that will retain up to 55% of the heat in the winter and keep OUT about 70% of the heat in the summer. This type of film will not go on all windows but just the west and north windows. The south windows will have no see un screens on them that block out over 80% of the sunlight which is what you want in the SUMMER but you want as much light as you can get in the winter. The only film that will go on the south side is film that will block out 99% of the harmful UV that causes fading of your furniture over time.
By putting film on the west side I keep out the afternoon sun that you do NOT want in the summer and keep as much heat in the house in the winter while letting daylight in. With film on the north windows I am retaining as much heat as I can during daylight hours and in our case when the sun gets way west when it sets in the summer it keeps the heat out. The house faces off to the west of south so in the summer months the sun actually goes through our north windows in the summer time towards the end of the day.
This may not increase the R value by much (maybe by 1) but it will reduce both the heating and cooling costs in the summer with a minimal effort. To achieve this I bought a one roll of window film named Titanium from a manufacturer called Gila Films, Inc. I tried it this weekend but I have to tell you it is a bitch to put on smoothly. I have no idea how the "professionals" do it (I would love to know or watch) but after going through a 36" x 15' role I was baffled as to how this stuff looks so good in their advertising. What bugs me is that they don't even have a video on their web site that DEMONSTRATES how to do this yourself. Yes the instructions are clear but their new product has the same instructions as the old products it seems to me. The new product has adhesive on the side that goes onto the window. I believe the old stuff does not. So this new stuff is a SOB to put on and not get bubbles or creases in it.
So if you want a really great looking job hire a professional to do it. Since we plan to replace the windows next year I won't lose any sleep over my work...the next roll hopefully will go on much better after I have a talk with the company who makes this stiff before I do this again!
I will talk about step two tomorrow.
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