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.

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.