How Blinds Can Reduce Your Energy Bills

Rising energy costs have made energy efficiency a top priority for consumers.

Energy Saving

In the UK, blinds, shutters and awnings have often been seen as a decorative window dressing or soft furnishing rather than effective ways to manage environmental factors that have a significant impact on our quality of life and our bank balance.

From adding style to your space, retaining or deflecting heat, controlling light levels and glare in addition to providing privacy, blinds and shutters offer a whole host of benefits all year round.

The data has it…Blinds make better winter energy savings

New independent research by the University of Salford’s Energy House Labs has demonstrated that blinds and shutters can reduce heat loss through windows by up to 33%*.

Commissioned and funded by the British Blind and Shutter Association (BBSA), the data shows that window blinds and shutters can have a significant positive impact on energy savings.

Blinds and shutters are a proven way to save energy. They should be considered like other building energy efficiency measures and are typically low cost and can make a real difference.

In the winter, during the day when it is sunny, open blinds to benefit from the free solar energy from the sun and close them in the evening to provide extra insulation and reduce heat loss to save energy and money. In summer, the process is reversed and closing the shading during the day can stop heat build up in the room while opening them during the evening when the temperature is cooler allows some of the heat to escape with ventilation.

External shading fitted to the outside of buildings such as venetians and awnings are widely used in warmer countries, acting as a shield to stop the heat entering the building. With rising summer temperatures in the UK, external shading would be effective for areas exposed to direct sunlight.

* Results from product tests at University of Salford’s Energy House Laboratory. Centre pane U-value measurements on a modern double glazed low-e window. Improvements shown above are against the same window with no covering.

In 2020 87% of English homes had full double glazing (English Housing Survey 2020-2021 – Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities).