Green building and sustainable products may be more easily attainable, but to what degree? Most buildings that are already built, both corporate and residential, do not fit the green standards many modern builders are adopting. What can you (or companies) do to retrofit buildings and homes that aren’t necessarily ‘green,’ but want to incorporate more eco-conscious products beyond lighting and low-VOC paint?
In 2006, former President Bill Clinton announced the ‘Clinton Climate Initiative,’ at first, a broad reaching program dedicated to enabling cities around the world to motivate towards reducing CO2 emissions and helping to stop global warming. In November of this year, the Clinton Climate Initiative announced a partnership with Wal-Mart, as well as 1100 Mayors nationwide and 25 product manufacturers, to bring energy efficient products to the masses. Additionally, the city of Chicago signed up to be the first city to retrofit privately-owned housing around the city, as well as the Sears Tower and Merchandise Mart. Various other projects around the country, including GE-owned real estate and schools across the country, will also turn green.
How does this benefit you? One of the first products announced to be available to the general public are window films. Window films have had a bad rap over the years, associated with car tinting film that bubbles and peels if it’s too cheap, or if you roll your windows down too early after installation. These days, window film is a state-of-the art product for energy efficiency and aesthetics, as it can revamp the look of older corporate buildings and benefit homes with subtlety and style.
Solar Gard is a company named by the Clinton Climate Initiate as a ‘key resource’ with their wide array of high-performance window film products. Solar Gard’s window films work through the use of layers of thin, layered microfilm which is installed on the interior of windows, seamlessly and discreetly. The film screens out glare, heat, and ultra-violet rays from the outside, and prevents air conditioning and heat from escaping rooms and creating hot and cold spots. In homes, curtains and other fabrics won’t fade as quickly with window films, making decorating your home more cost effective. The screens are also scratch resistant, and comes in a wide variety of colors for either your home or office.
3M also makes an extensive line of window films, calling them ’sunscreen for your furnishings’. Even better, check out their explanation of the tax credits that may be available to you or your company if you purchase window films for your home or office, up to $500! All a great incentive to start greening your home from the inside out (or is it from the outside in?) Whatever the case, we thin it’s worth checking out window films as a safe and effective method to achieve successful energy-efficiency where you live and work.