Kudos for for the educational marketing campaign by Evolution Window Films of Welland, Canada.  The owner installed window film for free for a class of Grade 3 students at a local elementary school.  In one stroke, he is protecting kids from heat and UV coming in from western-facing windows.

The education for the kids doesn’t stop here!  Evolution Films supplied students with thermometers prior to installation to measure temperatures on surfaces in the room.  Now the students can compare the difference in temperature prior to and after installation of window film.

Whether the window film industry likes it or not, the consumers increasingly sees window film as part of the green product movement.  They are reacting to the energy saving qualities of window film more than the aesthetic qualities, and the window film industry should embrace this opportunity.

It is nice to see Beakeart Films (SolarGard) join Huper Optik in making the manufacturing of window film a greener industrial process.  Excerpt from the official press release.

Bekaert Specialty Films established an
Environmental Management System (EMS) to ensure the company`s activities and
products have minimal impact on the environment. Bekaert Specialty Films` EMS
helps monitor and improve energy efficiency, resource conservation, waste
management and chemical control. Additionally the EMS aims to:

* Reduce the environmental impact of BSF`s manufacturing operations;
* Improve the work environment and create cross-functional teams that foster
awareness, understanding and responsibility across the organization; and
* Enhance relations with the community, regulators and stakeholders.

Watching the news last night, there was a funny report regarding an elevated park in Manhattan that put pedestrians at eye level with some floor to ceiling hotel windows. The problem being that exhibitionist hotel guests may accidentally or intentionally put on a show for all to see!

Most residential and office window film can be installed in these hotels will provide complete privacy for the hotel’s guest as they enjoy their room during the day; however, at night, there does not exist a window film that will provide complete one-way privacy. The exhibitionists will still win!

For so many people, the immediate reaction is… no true! What about all those police movies where people are looking through a one-way glass at the interrogation without the suspect’s knowledge? In these instances, the room that the suspect is interrogated is well lit, and the room behind the one-way glass is kept dark. This setup ensures that little light makes it through the privacy film for the suspect to see, whereas, everything happening with the suspect is visible.

In the hotel scenario, persistent exhibitionists can keep their hotel rooms bright. During the day, the hotel room’s lights cannot compete with the sun, but at night, pedestrians will still be able to see most of the show!

In the middle of a very well written article about keeping cool and lowering energy bills contains 4 paragraphs about window films:

The same holds true with 3M’s Prestige series of performance window films, which preserve the view from inside the home. They allow natural light into the home while blocking up to 97 percent of the sun’s heat.

…

Prestige comes with a lifetime warranty against bubbling, peeling and color change. It costs about $9 to $11 a square foot, depending on the scope of the job and style of window.

While it is great to see window films deservedly making it into articles such as this, I am continually disturbed to see that only the most expensive films are being written about.  The 3M marketing manager in this case has a new high-end film product they wish to publicize; however, I think most of the newspaper audience would be scared away by a product that costs $9 to $11 per square foot especially in these hard economic times.

It is just my opinion, but I believe the reader would be better served by a true range of costs for window film.  Here is a comparison between Prestige and what TC thinks is the best bang for buck window film in 2009.

3M Prestige films

• Blocks 50-59% of total solar energy.
• Costs $9-$11 per square foot.

Suntek  Symphony Neutral

• Blocks 50-80% of solar energy
• Costs $2.65 per square foot for DIY install (Additional 30% off tax credit available)
• Costs $5-$6 per square foot for professional install

With this information, I feel consumers are better able to make a cost-effective choice regarding window film purchases.

A recent news article titled, Keep your condo cool if you want to garner a sizzling sale price, had me thinking about this comparison between a new air conditioner unit or window tint for a hot room.   Here is an exerpt:

So by now we are all wondering when this heat wave is going to break and give us some relief but for those of you selling, the heat can make your condo feel like a sauna. Here are some tips to cool your place down and keep buyers happy when then come through your home.

Usually, window film is recommended for your own personal enjoyment and comfort while living in your home.   I have forgotten that there is value of installing home tint that can be added to the sales price of your home just like any other home improvement.  Not to mention, home tint is an project that pays for itself.

Just a quick comparison to understand why window tint is strongly recommended by more and more people.  A standard window-mount 10,000 BTU AC unit would cost around $350 plus another $150 for installation for a total of $500.  This single AC unit can cool a medium to large room effectively.  For $500, you can purchase 200 square feet of professional grade window film at $2.50 a square foot that can block 99% UV and 65% of solar heat.  Assuming medium sized window dimensions of 3 feet by 4 feet, this would be approximately be around 16 windows that can be tinted.

Sixteen windows could be an entire floor of tinted windows!  Not to mention, tinted windows does not add to your monthly electrical bill to work.  The comparison becomes even more obvious when you consider some of the other options such as a new high efficiency AC unit ($5k-$12k) or new energy efficient windows ($200-$300 per window).

AOL Autos recently wrote up an article about ways to keep your car cool.

Window tinting is very effective in lowering interior temperatures. However, there are different rules regulating window tinting for every state. Some states prohibit tinting of the front windows so police officers can see into a vehicle during a traffic stop. Other states allow tinting, but the degree of tinting is defined, which varies from state to state. So before having your vehicle’s windows tinted, check with your state DMV to make sure you don’t break any laws.

It is nice to see that the effectiveness of window tint is starting to be realized by mainstream media.  Window tint is not just for the young and reckless who want to look cool, the criminals who have something to hide, or the celebrities protecting their privacy.  There is a very practical use to window tint to protect your own health from the heat and UV of the harsh sun.

It is true that each state has its own individual tint laws regarding what is legal and what is not.  Be sure to check out the tint laws in your state before you tint.

It is refreshing to see that a company does more than just sell a product. A recent article about Huper Optik who took a change in office space as also an opportunity to establish themselves as a energy efficiency leader.

“This was an opportunity to take an existing space and convert it into a green space, so that we’re not just selling green, but we’re organizationally, and in attitude, green internally,” Nazir says. “We have to live it, rather than just sell it.”

No matter where you come down in the climate change shouting match, it cannot be argued that using less energy saves you money.  If there are energy efficient products that pay you back during its lifetime, it doesn’t take a financial genius to consider this during your purchasing decision.

Great signs for window film getting through to a broader audience in this article about a students pursuing a MBA at Climate Corps is evaluating installing window film.

Well, we’re MBA students, so that’s a start. But the bigger issue is that window film is expensive: I have seen estimates ranging from $3 to $12 per square foot (PG&E [PDF] does a good job of providing some ranges).

This can stall the conversation in leased buildings where the tenant pays the energy bills. In long lease situations, this may not be a problem: 3M says it generally takes two to six years for the energy savings to pay back the initial investment. However, in situations like mine where there is uncertainty over how long the company will remain in the building and where there are a lot of windows, the return on investment will be critical.

Tintcenter comment:

$12 is too high for window tint.  I know people think that they are buying a premium window film for this price, and indeed they are; however, the difference between performance between a $12 and a quality $4 film is only 10-15%.  Whereas the price difference is 200%.  Is this worth the cost?

Correspondingly, the payback period lengthens to 6 years when a $12 film is installed due to the high cost of the film.  TintCenter continues to recommend buying efficiently priced quality home tint and keeping the payback period around 2-3 years after installation.

Great article form the Hometown Annapolis newspaper detailing the steps you can take to keep a room cool:

1. Turn on the ceiling fan
2. Go from Auto to On for your AC fan only
3. Apply window film to windows

I agree with all the suggestions; however, I would rank the window film slightly higher to #2.  The reasoning is that the money spent on electricity can never be re-couped.  Whereas the money spent on window film can be earned back within 2-3 years by reduced electrical consumption.

There is only one point in the article I strongly object to:

It doesn’t have metal and hurls the heat out in summer and helps keep it in the house in winter. It’s called the Prestige Series and comes in at $8 to $12 a square foot of glass, depending upon the difficulty of application. So figure about 100 bucks a window and don’t forget the skylight.

$8 to $12 a sqauare foot is an extremely high price to pay for window film.  I wish the author of the piece did some more research to give a range of possible window film options.  This range should also include installing quality film in a DIY project.  Quality DIY window tint that is custom-cut to the sizes a homeowner needs range from $2.15 to $2.65 a square foot.  The application process for window film is really not very complex.  SnapTint.com provides an excellent window tint installation video that quickly explains the process.

At these DIY prices compared to the $8 to $12 for a professional, a homeowner can afford to install every window themselves 3-5 times over!

This is an excerpt from an excellent and lengthy article in the HeraldTribune.com detailing the various options for protection in hurricane-prone areas.   Often times, readers have the mental image of bulletproof glass in their minds.  They believe that the safety film product can just be added to a window to make it bulletproof.  This is a fallacy.

Window films have long been marketed erroneously for hurricane protection. In 2005, the International Window Film Association sent a notice to the Florida Attorney General’s Office warning that such films were not hurricane-proof.

But some companies, including several in Southwest Florida, still market the product as an alternative, rather than a supplement to standard hurricane protection.

“Unlike shutters or plywood, window film does not need to be installed each time a storm approaches,” claims a Sarasota-based company called The Window Film Specialists.

The company Web site compares film to shutters and cites numerous tests and approvals for the film, none of which include the Florida Building Code.

But company manager Randy Faust said the firm makes sure customers understand what they are buying.

“It’s not as strong as hurricane shutters; we don’t want anyone to be misled,” Faust said.

This is an excellent and researched opinion regarding the use of safety window film against hurricane damage.  TintCenter has always advised users that write in regarding safety films and hurricanes that safety film do offer some level of protection, safety film should not be relied as the primary defense against severe hurricane damage.  Safety window film should be thought of as secondary defense with benefits like holding together shattered glass in the event of substantial damage.