Reduce energy cost with window film

You've seen the claims being made "Save 30% of energy cost by having your windows tinted" and so on. 

Now this can be true... or not! It depends where you are and what film you have installed.

Most energy savings claimed are from hot climates, such as the Southern United States, Saudi Arabia or Singapore. Window films are great at reducing solar heat gain, in other words, preventing a percentage of heat coming into your home. This reduces the need for air conditioning units to work hard and a 30% reduction of energy used can be achieved. We find savings are also possible here in New Zealand, but perhaps not quite as high as that.
In general, tinting your glass will reduce ambient heat from entering, but make little, if any, difference to heat being trapped or re-radiated inside your home. From my own experience, a home does not need more, or less heating in winter, regardless if the glass has film on it.

Now there is one big exception! The advances in technology have enabled a film to reflect radiant  heat back in the room. This film uses Low-E (the E stands for Emissivity) technology and effectively can turn a single glazed window into performing like this:
3mm Clear Float Glass  U Value ASHRAE Summer 5.88         Winter 6.31
With Low-E film                                                 2.53                    3.46
4mm + 4mm Double Glazing, no film                   3.55                    3.25
(I hope the formatting is ok)

Performances are better when the figure is lower. I don't want to go into technical aspects here, but generally, Low-E film on single glazing outperforms basic double glazed systems in Summer and comes close to it in Winter.

But! If your home gets condensation, the insulating properties vanish, you have just paid way too much for window tinting. I have also noticed condensation creeps in earlier than with standard or no film applied. So consequently, Tint Waikato does not promote Low-E window film in these cases.

Ph 0800 846 892

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