Save Money While Staying Cool & Comfortable with Motorized Shades

Crestron shades make a statement while making everyday life more convenient

While it’s not the most physically taxing of household chores, there’s no denying that having to raise or lower every window shade in your home individually is a boring, time-consuming process. Depending on the size of your house, you may have dozens of shades spread across multiple floors. And each shade is also a portal for light to enter and heat your home. This can be handy in cooler months, but in the summer, it means your A/C is working harder to cool your home.

What if there was a way to simplify the task of adjusting your shades that could simultaneously lower the cost of heating and cooling your home? There’s a smart technology feature that can do all that, and more: motorized shades. Today we’ll go through everything motorized shades can do to make your Ladue, MO home a more pleasant place to be.

SEE ALSO: Walbrandt Technologies Earns Certification by Home Technology Association

DAYLIGHT HARVESTING

Daylight harvesting is one way motorized shades can improve your home’s energy efficiency. Daylight harvesting is the principle of using your shades, lighting control and other automation systems to harness the available sunlight hitting your windows to the utmost. At the most basic level, that means keeping shades lowered in the summer months and raised in the winter.

Daylight harvesting may sound like a no-brainer, but the difference with motorized shades is that you can do this much more quickly and efficiently. Your shades can operate according to an automatic schedule, or you can install heat and light sensors to have your shades take care of this themselves. Depending on the model of shades you’ve chosen (we recommend motorized shades or drapes from Crestron), you’ll be able to adjust the direction of blinds automatically in addition to raising and lowering them. For additional adjustments, you can use the Crestron app on your phone to lower individual shades, those in an entire room, or even your entire home.

IMPROVED INSULATION

Proper insulation is essential to keeping your heating and cooling costs low. In fact, the Department of Energy says that nearly half of the average homeowner’s energy costs come from running your HVAC system.

Motorized shades combat this problem in two ways. First, automation makes it easier to do daylight harvesting, minimizing solar heat gain in the summer and maximizing the heat in the winter. Second, Crestron motorized shades are made of advanced fabrics that allow minimal light to pass through, and the shades themselves are designed to allow as little light and air through as possible around their edges. This improved insulation makes it easier to retain heat in the cooler months while keeping warmer air out during the summer.

SYSTEMS WORK SMARTER, TOGETHER

One key principle of home automation is that your systems can do much more working in concert than any individual system can do on its own. This is especially true of motorized shades, as integrating your shades with other technology will yield even greater energy efficiency benefits.

Lighting control and motorized shades, for instance, work very well together to keep your energy costs low. Your shades will automatically adjust themselves to maximize daylight harnessing, and your lights will work in tandem to do the same. For example, as you raise shades, you’ll be able to automatically dim lights to ensure you’re not wasting unnecessary energy.

As we mentioned above, this helps you take better advantage of the available light. You’ll also see lower energy costs by installing occupancy sensors to make sure you’re only using lights in rooms where people are actually present.

 

Don’t wait to bring the power of motorized shades to your home. Call us today at (314) 627-0346 to get started, or reach out online. You can also see a sample of our prior work at our online gallery.