Save energy, save money – why you should consider curtains in 2022
Made-to-measure curtains could save you a significant amount on your energy bills, especially since the UK is experiencing a rise in the cost of living in 2022
Energy efficiency has never been more important. Just a few months ago, Ofgem announced a 54% hike to the energy price cap, which took effect on 1st of April 2022. That’s going to have a significant impact on energy bills this spring (and beyond), especially given that British weather at this time of year is notoriously changeable.
With all that in mind, it’s easy to see why so many people are exploring new ways to help them save on their energy bills. Curtains and similar ‘window treatments’ (to use the technical term) provide an excellent way to do that. Here, the experts at Plumbs explain exactly why you should be thinking about yours!
Why are curtains so useful?
According to the UK government, your home loses about 18% of its heat through its windows. (Some estimates from other organisations put that figure even higher, sometimes as high as 35% or even 40%.) That makes them solely responsible for a sizeable proportion of your energy bills, so if they’re poorly installed or not properly insulated, you could be spending a lot of money unnecessarily.
Simply putting up regular curtains can reduce your energy usage by as much as 15%, while saving you up to £30 a year on your electricity bills at the same time. What’s more, curtains with thermal linings allow you to go one step further. When you hear the words ‘thermal lining’, we know that you may well be thinking primarily of their use in winter, but they’re actually equally useful in the summer, when natural sunlight can fill up a room and cause internal temperatures to rise a lot more quickly.
Specifically, thermal curtains can help reduce heat loss by up to 25% in the winter, while reducing solar gain by 33% in the summer. In other words, they’ll save you as much on cooling a room in summer as they do on heating it in winter. That makes them simple, relatively inexpensive, and easy to acquire. And of course, you can match them to your existing decor, making them an excellent way to enhance the style of your home (in addition to their practical value).
How can you maximise the potential of energy saving curtains?
Easy – by making sure that they’re the right fit for your windows.
That’s all to do with how they work. We’ll save you the exhaustive technical explanation, but they basically function by creating a dead-air space between the window and the room itself. A tighter seal limits the amount of heat that’s able to enter from outside or escape through the windows – so the tighter the seal, the more effectively the curtains can reduce the amount of heat transfer and keep the room at a comfortable temperature (relative to the weather outside).
That’s exactly why getting them made-to-measure can help to maximise their potential. Companies like Plumbs can help with made-to-measure fitted curtains. There are plenty of options to choose from, so you never have to settle for anything less than what’s absolutely perfect for your home.
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