Dodging the Draft: Plastic for Energy Savings?
It’s been chilly around here lately—so much so that my toes are icy cold as I sit here typing, even with a steaming cup of tea to keep me company. I feel like I can almost see my breath and I’m indoors!
All of this cold weather has really got heating costs on my brain lately. It doesn’t help that when I sit down to read at night, that the draft coming off of the windows has me reaching for even more blankets to keep me warm. There’s not enough tea in the world to help me when my reading seat suffers from such drafts!
There must be a better way, I think to myself, and lo and behold, there is! I know I can’t afford to replace my windows, and certainly wouldn’t want to attempt to do so in weather like this, but there is a simple, low-ish cost solution for reducing the heat lost through my beautiful windows: window film!
While some may consider this solution a bit less than stylish, it certainly is practical. A box of window film (which you can get at any home improvement store) will typically run about $20 and can be used on several windows (depending on the size of your windows, of course). And apparently, it can help to cut heating energy costs by as much as $20 per winter annually. That’s not a bad return! If you want a more accurate estimate of your potential savings, try out 3M’s calculator for that purpose.
There are many companies that now make window films, most of which work just fine according to the experts. And the good news is that I think, with a little care, I can remove the plastic from the windows come spring in such a way as to make them reusable the next year. That’s what a friend of mine did at least, and it seemed to work quite well for her. So the $20 investment could last for several seasons!
- Lucy
