Our windows are one of the main sources of heat inside our house. It is the weakest part the the "building envelope," which is the term used by engineers and architects to refer to the exterior shell of the house, particularly the roofs and walls, that are supposed to protect us from the outdoor environment. It is the easiest way for the heat of the sun to enter the house. The simplest way to cool our house significantly is by selecting the most efficient window covering. BluHomes Breeze, a townhouse development in Amparo Caloocan, uses White PVC Horizontal Window Blinds for their window coverings to cool the house passively for 4 reasons. 1. It is color whiteWhite is the coolest color among all colors. The lighter the color of a material, the less heat is absorbed by the material and the cooler the material becomes. When sunlight hits the white blinds, instead of absorbing the heat and letting it penetrate the house, it reflects the heat back to the outside. 2. It is PVC materialPlastic is considered as a low-conductive material. Conductivity is a property of a material that measures its ability to let heat pass through its body. Steel is highly conductive, that's why the steel spoon is hot when we use it for cooking. The less conductive the material is, like PVC, the less heat will transfer from one end to another. This means that the heat on the outdoor side of the window blinds is not being passed through the material and into the interior of the house. 3. It blocks the sunSince it is horizontal, the blinds can be manually adjusted to control the amount of sunlight that you want to enter inside the house. You can totally or partially block the direct sunlight from entering the house with the blinds, thus giving you full control of the amount of light and heat you allow to enter your house. 4. It allows air to enterWhen there is no air movement inside the house, you feel hotter. Wind that passes by your body makes you feel cooler because the wind pushes away the humidity around your body that makes you feel hot. Unlike curtains and shut-off blinds, horizontal window blinds can block the sunlight and yet allow for the air to enter the house, making the house cooler and more comfortable.
6 Comments
The purpose of building a house is to provide a home. In the future, it must be more than that. All buildings are built for a purpose. A hospital building is built for health care to the community. A school building is built for providing education. A house is built to provide shelter. Buildings are built for a single purpose of satisfying basic human needs. Houses built to contribute to the environmentHouses in the future must satisfy more than one purpose of providing shelter. It would be much better if the house that are being built contribute to the environment as well. Instead of adding burden to the environment and contributing negatively, why not contribute positively? Houses must be built to reduce its negative impact to the environment. Houses with less energy demandThe first step is to reduce the energy demand of the house by building it using the concept of passive cool house. A passive cool house is a house built to be cooler and comfortable only by design, without air-conditioners, using better roof and wall insulation, cross ventilation techniques, and better house orientation and shading. This will significantly reduce the energy demand of the house. House with solar panelsAfter designing the house with reduced energy demand, the next step is to build the house with renewable energy sources like solar panels. This will offset the energy sourced from dirty non-renewable energy and reduce its negative impact to the environment.
This is the vision of BluHomes for the future of the housing industry in the Philippines, to have houses that have less impact to the environment and are powered solely by renewable energy, mainly by solar power. With this kind of housing, the world will be a much better, healthier, and more sustainable. |
Eco Friendly HomesBluHomes are eco-friendly homes certified as green building developments. See the latest eco-friendly developments of BluHomes by clicking here:
Archives
February 2024
|