Reflective fabrics and honeycomb blind fabrics combined with Motionblinds smart technology help regulate light and heat and reduce energy consumption.
ENERGY-SAVING WINDOW COVERINGS
When people think of window coverings, they think of controlling sunlight and daylight. Today, however, window coverings need to offer more than that. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people discovered that their home was a safe haven, with window shades playing an important role. As a result, consumers began looking for window shades that are beautiful, functional and help save energy. In this blog, we will explain the science behind our energy-saving window shade fabrics and Motionblinds smart technology.
Our two energy-saving fabrics
1. Reflective fabrics - These fabrics have a special white or silver backing designed to reflect sunlight and heat.
2. Honeycomb blind fabrics - These fabrics have similar properties, but in addition to blocking sunlight, they also act as an insulating blanket for the window by trapping air in the fabric's 'cells'. Choose the blackout version for even greater control over light and heat.
To explain how these energy-saving fabrics contribute to thermal comfort, we need to delve into the technical details.
What is light?
What exactly is light? Sunlight is radiation from the sun, expressed as energy and heat. The human eye can only detect visible light, while the full solar spectrum (s) consists of ultraviolet light (uv), visible light (v) and near-infrared light.
Incident light on window shades
The diagram explains how fabric responds to incident light in different ways. Fabric can reflect (R), transmit (T) and absorb (A) incoming sunlight. These three values always add up to 100%. These solar spectrum values are most commonly used when discussing RTA values.
If we look at thermal comfort in more detail, all transmitted (T) energy is absorbed and converted into heat. All absorbed (A) energy is already heat. Both cause thermal discomfort and create a need to cool the room, for example with air conditioning, which consumes energy. Consequently, preventing heat from entering a room also helps save energy.
Reflective blackout fabrics
Blackout fabric is perfect for preventing incident light from passing through. This is because blackout fabric does not transmit any light and can therefore only absorb and reflect it. If the blackout fabric has a white or silver backing, most incoming sunlight is reflected. In numerical terms, both white and silver backings on blackout fabrics can reflect up to 80% of incoming sunlight. This means that a great deal of heat that could otherwise enter the room is reflected away.
Save energy with Motionblinds technology
With around 30% of heating and cooling energy lost through windows in homes and buildings, it is perfectly understandable that everyone is looking for energy-saving window shades for every window in every building around the world. But how? The answer is not simply to choose an energy-saving fabric with insulating properties or a reflective backing. The best solution is to combine these energy-efficient fabrics with Motionblinds smart technology. This is the smartest way to lower energy costs – and, more importantly, help the planet by reducing CO² emissions.
Living in a smart home
With Motionblinds technology, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing that your smart home devices will communicate with each other. For example, a smart thermostat and a smart weather station will communicate with your Motionblinds smart shades when the temperature in your home drops below 19 degrees or rises above 20 degrees, and the smart shades will close automatically to keep warmth in or heat out.
Benefits of energy-saving smart window shades:
- Save energy by reducing the need for heating, air conditioning and artificial lighting
- Provide insulation in winter and sun protection in summer
- Make optimal use of natural daylight, helping you save electricity on lighting
- Maximise efficiency by operating even when no one is in the building
Would you like to learn more about our energy-saving collection? Explore the full collection.
For more information about our energy-saving fabrics or Motionblinds smart motors, contact our experts.
Source: Coulisse
