Although it sounds like a joke, but there is really is decorative window film designed with the leaves of the marijuana plant.  Sold by hipstuffnow.com, the Pot Leaf Window Film is an excellent addition to any home a way to subtly express your recreational activities.   Thanks to windowfilmmag.com for bringing this unique product to our attention.

On a serious note, decorative film is a great product to add privacy to your windows at the same time as a decorative touch.  Decorative films come in slightly varying flavors, some come with adhesive backing, others utilize static cling to stay on the glass.  Both types are easy to instasll and can add meaningful accents to bathrooms, kitchens, and even home offices.

I recently read an article by the Skin Cancer Foundation regarding their recommendations to help prevent skin damage in children.  I am happy to see that in one passage, the foundation explicitly recommends window film as a way to help protect our children:

Infants 0-6 months: Infants under 6 months of age should be kept out of the sun. Their skin is too sensitive for sunscreen. An infant’s skin possesses little melanin, the pigment that gives color to skin, hair and eyes and provides some sun protection. Therefore, babies are especially susceptible to the sun’s damaging effects. o Use removable mesh window shields to keep direct sunlight from coming in through the windows of your car or invest in UV window film, which can screen almost 100 percent of ultraviolet radiation without reducing visibility.

Many people have told me that glass itself naturally blocks UV, and questioned whether the claim that window film has any added benefit.  I would like to clear the air regarding this issue.

There are three different types of UV rays.  UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C.  UV-C is naturally blocked by our ozone layer.

Although it is true that glass naturally blocks a percentage of UV-B.  UV-B rays are shorter in wavelength and are also known as “tanning” rays since they cause the tanning effect and sunburn.

Glass does not naturally block UV-A rays.  UV-A rays cause premature aging in skin.  Additionally, recent studies have shown that both UV-A and UV-B contribute to cancer risk in both children and adults.

Some frightening statistics about skin cancer:

• more than 1 million cases of skin cancer is diagnosed annually
• 1 in 5 Americans will be diagnosed with skin cancer

Now the good news.  Quality window film blocks both 99% of UV-A and UV-B rays.  So not only does window film improve comfort inside your home or car, it also is a green product that reduces your energy usage.  Finally, window film also protects your health.

Excellent and low-cost energy efficiency tip to keep a little more heat out from the garage.  Using simple insulating material can be applied to the panels on the garage door.  Additionally, window film can be applied to the windows to reject some more heat while still letting the natural sunlight in.

The only objection to the article is that it recommends purchasing window film from Lowes.  Lowes sells Gila brand film with is like the bastard step-child of prefessional grade film company called Llumar.  Professionals don’t use Gila film, and you should not either.

Look for pre-cut window tint companies like SnapTint.com, which is one of our advertising partners, that sells professional grade window film custom cut to the sizes you need.

Stratford County Jail decided to not only tint the 37 windows facing the sun, but the entire 164 windows of the complex.  The reason isn’t for solar rejection and energy efficiency, but rather jail inmates have displayed lewd behavior from inside their jail cells whether intentionally or unintentionally.   Apparently, jailed inmates need their privacy as well.

More details in the Foster’s Daily news article.

Those of you with homes that belong to Home Owners Associations (HOA) already know what HOA’s are for.  On the positive side, HOA rules and regulations help a community like uniformly clean and well-maintained; however, some HOA may be too restrictive and prevent homeowners from even re-painting their home to a different color.

In many communities, the installation of energy-efficient add-ons to a home like solar panels or window tint have been rejected on aesthetic grounds.  This means that the HOA thinks that these add-ons are unsightly and may hurt the value of the homes in the community.  It seems that this cold attitude towards energy efficiency may be shifting at last.

Here is a quote from an article regarding HOA’s in Colorado:

Highlands Ranch, where nearly 30,000 single-family homes come under the eyes of the development’s community associations, has seen about a 30 percent increase in applications for renewable-energy systems since HB 1270 became law, according to Mike Bailey, the supervisor of covenant compliance and assistance.

“We did very minor tune-ups once (the law) passed,” Bailey said, noting changes to policies on shading structures and window tinting. “We anticipated the solar aspect of things to really grow. You could tell this was the wave of the future, the next chapter.”

Homeowners who want to pursue energy-efficiency measures still must submit to architectural review. But Bailey said that while the committee might offer suggestions, the reinforced law has “made us cautious about where we’re restrictive” — and so far the association hasn’t denied an application.

If your HOA has kept you from installing window tint on your home, it may be time to revisit the subject with them.  The tide is turning, and national sentiment is growing more and more positive regarding energy-efficiency measure.

An article with excellent energy-saving tips on how a woman in Jacksonville Florida cut her energy bills by half, even during the summer.  Some of the tips mentioned in the article include:

• Replacing light bulbs with compact flourescent bulbs
• Making doors and windows airtight
• Raising the AC temperature to 74 degrees
• Use more ceiling and floor fans

Additional tips suggested included:

• Use a programmable thermometer so your AC is not running when nobody is at  home
• Install window tint on your windows to reject heat even before it enters your home
• Improve Insulation and Check AC Filters

One tip I have to object to is that the article recommended window tint to be purchased at Home Depot.  Home Depot does sell various shades of DIY window film, but they are not brands used by window tinting professionals.  Home Depot window films greatly underperform professional grade window film in various heat rejection metrics by a fair degree.

TintCenter recommends that you either:

• Get your home tint professionally installed by a licensed professional using quality window film
• Use a DIY home tint service like SnapTint.com that cuts professional-grade window film to the exact sizes you need

Additionally, going DIY to install home tint can pay off big in 2009 with a 30% Federal Energy Tax Credit up to $1,500.  More details about the window tint tax credit.  DIY Home Tint from SnapTint.com.

Came across this article highlighting the beauty of window tint as well as free advertising for Auto Lovers Tinting in Hudson Valley NY.  The article says:

I’ve written before about window tint and the difference between what is legal and what isn’t, but looking at some imports at the K104.7 Xtreme Rides show and the ones that were at the Rhinebeck Car Show, I realized that window tint is what makes the car. Not only does it protect your interior from cracking and fading, but also it looks dang good.

The window tint you find at car shows are often times illegal on the street.  The extreme colorings and high mirror-like reflectivity may look great on a show car; however, these films applied to a regular car may not be street legal in your state.  It is always best to check your state window tint laws before you choose a window film to apply to your vehicle.

More evidence of adoption of window film at European educational institutions.  An excerpt from the article.

Many believe that closing blinds is a solution – but this does not stop the direct heat from entering the building – it just slows down the time it takes to permeate around. The educational sector contributes approximately 15% of the carbon emissions from the public sector as a whole, which is one reason why Ed Balls appointed a Task Force to look into it. With increasingly hot summers it has become apparent that cooling is a major contributor to carbon emissions and most people have been slow to recognise just how much air conditioning, powered by fossil fuel driven energy, is contributing to our carbon footprint.

The idea of keeping the suns’ heat out of the building therefore makes financial as well as environmental sense and some studies show that solar control window film pays for itself in less than five years.

Nice to see a great writeup on window tint being used by european soccer teams that walks through window film conception, history, and how it fits into the overall green initiatives taking place across the world.

Ironically the window film industry has been banging this drum for some time. Their argument is that it makes no sense to allow the heat into the building only to have to cool it down. Particularly as modern solar control window films allow high levels of natural light through whilst keeping the excesses of the sun out.

The cost of heat gain can be counted in many ways. The wasted energy used to disperse warm air is the more obvious cost. The cost to the environment created by unnecessary emissions is another. Add to that the reduction in productivity created when temperatures rise, as evidenced by a research study in the USA by Wyon, albeit some while ago,  which found that productivity in an office environment dropped by 40% at 75°F compared to 68°F, the most comfortable temperature to work in. Other research from the USA by Vernon found that accidents are 30% more likely to occur at the higher temperature because people become fatigued. Finally, glare from the sun falling on monitors is also a problem with 75% of people that work on computers suffering from some kind of eye strain.