1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,091 You ever reach way back into your brain 2 00:00:02,091 --> 00:00:09,071 and uncover something from the not-too-distant past that seems weirdly obvious yet isn’t popular anymore? 3 00:00:09,071 --> 00:00:12,391 That’s right, I’m talking about window awnings! 4 00:00:12,391 --> 00:00:18,069 You used to see these everywhere, especially on those cute brick ranches kitty corner to the house where you grew up - 5 00:00:18,069 --> 00:00:20,397 I’m sure that’s a universal experience. 6 00:00:20,397 --> 00:00:22,717 But lately, they’ve fallen out of fashion. 7 00:00:22,717 --> 00:00:25,870 And I would like to make the case that we should get them back. 8 00:00:25,870 --> 00:00:32,928 Quick programming note, I’m not gonna be  recommending any specific kind of awning or product line or anything like that. 9 00:00:32,928 --> 00:00:35,053 I am not here to sell you anything 10 00:00:35,053 --> 00:00:36,758 ...YouTube ads notwithstanding... 11 00:00:36,758 --> 00:00:39,339 though I do like spreading ideas. 12 00:00:39,339 --> 00:00:47,168 And awnings are one of those ideas that our ancestors figured out but as far as I can tell we just decided we’re too cool for these days. 13 00:00:47,168 --> 00:00:50,628 Which is ironic because window awnings keep you cool. 14 00:00:50,628 --> 00:00:54,547 That’s their point! Or at least, a central point. 15 00:00:54,547 --> 00:00:56,444 See, we like windows. 16 00:00:56,444 --> 00:01:01,427 [WIndows XP error sound] Maybe not that kind, but that kind is pretty universally liked. 17 00:01:01,427 --> 00:01:05,833 They let in natural light and allow us to look outside and see things. 18 00:01:05,833 --> 00:01:12,910 But windows are also great big holes in walls which we only plugged with thin sheets of glass. 19 00:01:12,910 --> 00:01:18,481 While they have gotten surprisingly good over the years at keeping heat energy from moving through them, 20 00:01:18,481 --> 00:01:22,631 they’re still nowhere near as good as the thick walls which surround them. 21 00:01:22,631 --> 00:01:25,068 And, here’s the important bit to this video, 22 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:30,096 they become a major source of heat gain when the sun shines through them. 23 00:01:30,096 --> 00:01:32,148 Ever heard of the greenhouse effect? 24 00:01:32,148 --> 00:01:40,719 That doesn’t just happen in greenhouses, it happens any time the sun’s energy makes it through a transparent window and into an enclosed space. 25 00:01:40,719 --> 00:01:42,418 Like your house. 26 00:01:42,418 --> 00:01:48,614 Once sunlight makes its way into your home,  it lands on the stuff inside like flooring, furniture, et cetera. 27 00:01:48,614 --> 00:01:55,675 That stuff absorbs the sun’s light energy which is then re-radiated into your home as heat energy. 28 00:01:55,675 --> 00:02:01,583 This heat gain from solar irradiance, in the context of buildings, is called insolation. 29 00:02:01,583 --> 00:02:05,420 Not insulation - but insolation. 30 00:02:05,420 --> 00:02:07,585 Don’t look at me, I just work here. 31 00:02:07,585 --> 00:02:14,666 Thanks to recent innovations in coatings on the glass, a lot of this energy is reflected away and kept out of your home. 32 00:02:14,666 --> 00:02:24,447 But, fun fact, the sun is extremely powerful so even with really fancy windows there’s a lot of energy getting inside that ultimately becomes heat. 33 00:02:24,447 --> 00:02:27,450 Don’t take my word for it, just ask a cat. 34 00:02:27,450 --> 00:02:30,917 In the winter months this warmth can be a pretty nice benefit, 35 00:02:30,917 --> 00:02:34,319 but in the summer months - it sucks. 36 00:02:34,319 --> 00:02:36,619 And our ancestors knew this. 37 00:02:36,619 --> 00:02:42,179 They figured out that if you designed a structure so that the windows couldn’t be in direct sunlight, 38 00:02:42,179 --> 00:02:48,592 then there would be no greenhouse effect and the interior of that structure would stay much cooler. 39 00:02:48,592 --> 00:02:55,890 Those grand covered porches you see on fancy old houses throughout much of the Southern US weren’t just for enjoying the breeze, 40 00:02:55,890 --> 00:02:58,950 they kept the windows entirely shaded. 41 00:02:58,950 --> 00:03:02,462 In fact they kept pretty much the entire structure shaded. 42 00:03:02,462 --> 00:03:09,545 And it wasn’t just plantation houses - the galleries attached to historic French Quarter buildings also help keep the buildings cool. 43 00:03:09,545 --> 00:03:17,251 Notice how the building is in direct sunlight here but almost the entire  structure (other than the roof) is in shade. 44 00:03:17,251 --> 00:03:19,975 Of course, those examples have multiple purposes. 45 00:03:19,975 --> 00:03:25,096 I can’t earnestly say that shading windows was “the point” of a covered porch. 46 00:03:25,096 --> 00:03:32,517 It also created a pleasant outdoor space and protected windows and doors from the elements, allowing you to leave them open in a rainstorm. 47 00:03:32,517 --> 00:03:35,857 But we did recognize the value of that coverage. 48 00:03:35,857 --> 00:03:38,297 So much so that in the not-too-distant past, 49 00:03:38,297 --> 00:03:48,266 there were popular products for your home which provided the shade and cover of an opulent wraparound porch but with minimal materials and easy installation. 50 00:03:48,266 --> 00:03:50,267 What products, you ask? 51 00:03:50,267 --> 00:03:51,447 Awnings! 52 00:03:51,447 --> 00:03:54,947 It appears these really came into vogue in the 1920’s. 53 00:03:54,947 --> 00:04:00,077 This 1927 article in Building Age and National Builder comes out swinging: 54 00:04:00,077 --> 00:04:05,467 “A Beautiful home which is devoid of awnings resembles a well dressed man without a necktie. 55 00:04:05,467 --> 00:04:10,701 The awnings give that finishing touch, just the last point to complete the proper taste.” 56 00:04:10,701 --> 00:04:13,494 Seems like the author really likes awnings! 57 00:04:13,494 --> 00:04:15,068 But why? 58 00:04:15,068 --> 00:04:17,351 It’s all about keeping comfortable! 59 00:04:17,351 --> 00:04:22,325 “An awning on the porch permits the use of the porch when the hot afternoon sun is shining. 60 00:04:22,325 --> 00:04:28,724 They will keep the porch shady and pleasant, and this also reduces the temperature of the rooms adjoining the porch.” 61 00:04:28,724 --> 00:04:30,374 And here’s my favorite part: 62 00:04:30,374 --> 00:04:37,978 “The fact that the awning excludes the sun from the window glass is quite an important asset in reducing the temperature of the room, 63 00:04:37,978 --> 00:04:41,329 and in preventing the fading of wall paper and carpet.” 64 00:04:41,329 --> 00:04:44,025 Sure seems like awnings are the cat’s meow! 65 00:04:44,025 --> 00:04:48,578 In 1925, Hal and Helen Davis wrote in Better Homes and Gardens 66 00:04:48,578 --> 00:04:57,587 “Awnings - they have such possibilities, such delightful possibilities, that foolish indeed is a house to go without them, if they can be afforded.” 67 00:04:57,587 --> 00:05:01,540 That’s right, we just got called fools by the Davis family! 68 00:05:01,540 --> 00:05:05,732 Honestly this article is a useful tool for understanding how they were spreading. 69 00:05:05,732 --> 00:05:12,350 It even breaks down the differences in awning configurations by locale and the pros and cons of various types. 70 00:05:12,350 --> 00:05:14,551 This used to be a big deal! 71 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:16,779 And they were a selling point for your home - 72 00:05:16,779 --> 00:05:19,517 real estate firms are beginning to learn the value! 73 00:05:19,517 --> 00:05:21,887 Plus they’re just a fun accent piece. 74 00:05:21,887 --> 00:05:28,110 I mean, who wouldn’t want to flaunt their unusually picturesque nature with a cool set of Arabian Awnings? 75 00:05:28,110 --> 00:05:29,640 The spears really sell it. 76 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:35,012 But hundred year old magazine articles are one thing and the real world is another. 77 00:05:35,012 --> 00:05:37,431 How big were awnings really? 78 00:05:37,431 --> 00:05:42,879 Well, if you dingle around on the ol’ Streetview and visit practically any old Chicago neighborhood, 79 00:05:42,879 --> 00:05:52,006 you’ll find plenty of houses which still have exterior window awnings providing that overhang for shade, especially on South and West-facing windows. 80 00:05:52,345 --> 00:05:55,112 You can see in this image how effective they are: 81 00:05:55,112 --> 00:06:02,161 this side of the house is being hit with direct sunlight, but the awning is almost entirely shading the window below it. 82 00:06:02,161 --> 00:06:07,278 Thanks to that awning, the old front room is staying much cooler than it would without it. 83 00:06:07,278 --> 00:06:15,044 Many of these products also allowed you to leave windows open in the rain - at least if they were installed correctly and you had the right kind of window. 84 00:06:15,044 --> 00:06:17,383 They offered a lot of benefits! 85 00:06:17,383 --> 00:06:21,009 Yet despite remaining extant in various styles, 86 00:06:21,009 --> 00:06:27,746 the functional purpose of window awnings seems to have almost entirely left the public consciousness. 87 00:06:27,746 --> 00:06:29,430 Why’d this happen? 88 00:06:29,430 --> 00:06:34,441 I’m gonna say it’s a mix of two factors: air conditioning and fashion. 89 00:06:34,441 --> 00:06:41,750 The advent of mechanical air conditioning diminished the importance of the passive tricks we used to rely on to keep cool. 90 00:06:41,750 --> 00:06:46,901 As more and more people started hooking up energy-consuming air conditioners to the power grid 91 00:06:46,901 --> 00:06:51,097 (boy I hope it can keep up with all that… sorry wrong topic). 92 00:06:51,097 --> 00:06:57,042 As more and more people got air conditioning, suddenly the temperature in their home was controllable. 93 00:06:57,042 --> 00:07:03,058 And so long as those air conditioners were powerful enough to overcome the heat gain of solar irradiance, 94 00:07:03,058 --> 00:07:09,652 the awnings that previously helped keep us cool in a heatwave didn’t seem necessary any longer. 95 00:07:09,652 --> 00:07:12,090 And, technically, they weren’t. 96 00:07:12,090 --> 00:07:17,061 So, fast forward a decade or two, and new homes are getting built without them. 97 00:07:17,061 --> 00:07:20,990 No need for awnings when we can pump the heat right out! 98 00:07:20,990 --> 00:07:25,806 That meant that all the older homes with awnings started to look dated. 99 00:07:25,806 --> 00:07:30,261 And if there’s one sin in the fashion world, it’s looking dated. 100 00:07:30,261 --> 00:07:33,141 As you can tell I take this very seriously. 101 00:07:33,141 --> 00:07:39,475 Beyond fashion, though, awnings on a home may very well have been a sign that the home didn’t have air conditioning, 102 00:07:39,475 --> 00:07:45,115 and I’ll bet many a realtor in the 1960’s suggested taking them down. 103 00:07:45,115 --> 00:07:51,188 "No one wants a house with awnings," they’d say, "those are for old fuddy duddies. And poor people." 104 00:07:51,188 --> 00:07:56,670 And now, other than that one infomercial, awnings are largely forgotten. 105 00:07:56,670 --> 00:08:00,359 But dang it, I think it’s time for us  to consider bringing them back. 106 00:08:00,359 --> 00:08:04,150 For one, I actually think window awnings are pretty cute. 107 00:08:04,150 --> 00:08:10,688 Maybe not the aluminum ones that you still run across sometimes, though hey - they sure proved their longevity. 108 00:08:10,688 --> 00:08:16,380 But there are so many different styles of awning out there, plus many more to be discovered. 109 00:08:16,380 --> 00:08:23,333 And like those 1920’s people, I think window awnings offer a real way to put a personal touch on a home. 110 00:08:23,333 --> 00:08:28,436 And what’s cooler than a way to express yourself that also literally keeps you cool? 111 00:08:28,436 --> 00:08:30,464 There’s a lot to like about them! 112 00:08:30,464 --> 00:08:36,079 Heat waves would be a lot more manageable with window awnings keeping the sun’s heat outside your home, 113 00:08:36,079 --> 00:08:39,879 and day to day they save money on electricity bills. 114 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:41,536 How much money? 115 00:08:41,536 --> 00:08:45,236 Well, unfortunately, that’s not the easiest thing to answer. 116 00:08:45,236 --> 00:08:52,551 It's annoyingly hard to get an idea of how much heat energy is actually coming through a window when the sun shines through it. 117 00:08:52,551 --> 00:08:59,533 It depends on so many factors: your location on the planet, the direction the window faces, the time of the year, time of day, 118 00:08:59,533 --> 00:09:04,576 and of course the performance of the window itself all matter a lot. 119 00:09:04,576 --> 00:09:14,401 Still, I wanted to give you some useful information so I reached out to someone who has access to modeling software which can predict the energy needs of a home. 120 00:09:14,401 --> 00:09:21,590 They took a typical house in Chicago and ran some numbers for heating and cooling demand while tweaking a few variables. 121 00:09:21,590 --> 00:09:26,963 There’s a lot of interesting stuff to cover here but what I want to highlight first is this: 122 00:09:26,963 --> 00:09:34,688 Doing nothing to the house but adding window overhangs reduced the annual cooling energy needed by 20%. 123 00:09:35,196 --> 00:09:37,144 That’s a big deal! 124 00:09:37,144 --> 00:09:40,618 But you’ll notice that other things had an impact, too. 125 00:09:40,618 --> 00:09:46,382 And if you notice even harder, you’ll see that those impacts were all double-edged. 126 00:09:46,382 --> 00:09:50,050 In the past, I’ve mentioned Low-E windows. 127 00:09:50,050 --> 00:09:57,813 That’s kind of a catch-all term and doesn’t mean a whole awful lot on its own, but broadly it just means high-performance windows. 128 00:09:57,813 --> 00:10:03,286 And one of a window’s performance metrics is the solar heat gain coefficient. 129 00:10:03,286 --> 00:10:08,890 You can think of this as the percentage of the sun’s heat energy that makes it through the glass. 130 00:10:08,890 --> 00:10:17,420 There are windows on the market now with exceptionally low SHGCs: some windows don’t even let a quarter of the sun’s energy through, 131 00:10:17,420 --> 00:10:23,083 and those are great to have in warm climates  where you rarely ever need to heat buildings. 132 00:10:23,083 --> 00:10:31,134 But they’re often not a great fit for us up North because over the course of a year we need more heat energy than we need cooling, 133 00:10:31,134 --> 00:10:35,480 and blocking the sun’s free heat doesn’t make much sense. 134 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:37,254 Notice that in our modeling, 135 00:10:37,254 --> 00:10:42,085 swapping out just the South facing windows to a lower SHGC 136 00:10:42,085 --> 00:10:47,075 dropped cooling demand a pretty similar amount to adding overhangs. 137 00:10:47,075 --> 00:10:50,073 But look what it did to the heating demand. 138 00:10:50,073 --> 00:10:56,157 It went up significantly because those windows are actually working against us in the winter. 139 00:10:56,157 --> 00:11:01,443 Our winters suck and some free heat from the sun is a very welcome thing. 140 00:11:01,443 --> 00:11:07,012 So there’s a tradeoff to changing the window’s thermal performance characteristics. 141 00:11:07,012 --> 00:11:11,582 And have you noticed what the lowest total annual power figure came from? 142 00:11:11,582 --> 00:11:21,120 Windows with high solar heat gain coefficients for free heating in the winter but which had overhangs to block sunlight in the summer. 143 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,486 That’s the beauty of awnings. 144 00:11:23,486 --> 00:11:28,657 We don’t have to make the choice between winter and summer performance when buying a window. 145 00:11:28,657 --> 00:11:37,003 We could use a window best-suited for winter heat gains and then in the summer just block the sun from hitting it with an awning. 146 00:11:37,003 --> 00:11:43,424 The reason why I’m making this video now is that, well, it occurred to me that there isn’t really a difference 147 00:11:43,424 --> 00:11:50,778 between a properly-installed window awning and some of the rather advanced home design techniques we see today. 148 00:11:50,778 --> 00:11:58,230 Those with lots of money to spend when designing their new custom homes might get fancy and install different window types. 149 00:11:58,230 --> 00:12:07,153 One method I’ve talked about before is installing high heat-gain windows below an overhang so they provide that free heat in the winter but not in the summer. 150 00:12:07,153 --> 00:12:10,932 And then use low-heat-gain windows elsewhere in the house. 151 00:12:10,932 --> 00:12:15,895 That’s a cool idea but it’s a lot of work compared to slapping on an awning! 152 00:12:15,895 --> 00:12:22,686 And the best thing about slapping on an awning (besides how fun that is to say) is that it can be done cheaply and anywhere! 153 00:12:22,686 --> 00:12:26,052 Speaking of anywhere, here’s a clunky voiceover edit. 154 00:12:26,052 --> 00:12:32,560 I’m worried that I fixated too much on the scenario we face here and not enough on warm and hot climates. 155 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:44,236 Because even if you’ve got the best dang windows on the market with an SHGC of .2, five average-sized West-facing windows (I’m calling 3 by 5 feet average) 156 00:12:44,236 --> 00:12:49,582 are going to let in more than a kilowatt of heat for several hours every afternoon. 157 00:12:49,582 --> 00:12:57,245 That’s not far off from running a space heater on high, and when it’s 100 degrees outside that’s not the smartest move. 158 00:12:57,245 --> 00:13:02,224 For giggles I decided to look at some new homes getting built around Phoenix, Arizona 159 00:13:02,224 --> 00:13:10,375 and it’s frankly astonishing to me that in that climate there’s apparently no focus paid on window overhangs. 160 00:13:10,375 --> 00:13:14,605 Sure, back in the day we didn’t have the fancy glass we do now, 161 00:13:14,605 --> 00:13:22,767 but if window awnings were popular here in Chicago, where it’s really only hot 4… maybe 5 months of the year, 162 00:13:22,767 --> 00:13:31,028 it seems to me like there’s a lot of energy and money being wasted by not thinking of ways to keep windows in the shade. 163 00:13:31,028 --> 00:13:33,621 Now, there's a couple of notes I want to add. 164 00:13:33,621 --> 00:13:41,613 Both myself and the person who helped me with the modeling here are a bit skeptical of some of the data it spat out. 165 00:13:41,613 --> 00:13:49,135 The impact of dark closed drapes when there’s already a 2.5 foot overhang seems really high, 166 00:13:49,135 --> 00:13:58,706 and the fact that those drapes by themselves are lowering cooling power more than the overhangs seems… impossible. 167 00:13:58,706 --> 00:14:04,413 Drapes on the inside of a window don’t stop sunlight from passing through the window glass. 168 00:14:04,413 --> 00:14:10,292 At best, if they’re very reflective, they can push some of the sun's energy back out 169 00:14:10,292 --> 00:14:20,080 but having stood next to a West-facing window with a white roller shade, I can say from experience that that shade gets pretty stinking hot on summer afternoons. 170 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:27,063 It is always better to keep the sun from coming through the glass in the first place, that way there is no greenhouse effect, 171 00:14:27,063 --> 00:14:32,663 so how this model is considering those factors seems a bit off. 172 00:14:32,663 --> 00:14:41,391 Really, if there’s one call to action I want to make here it would be that there needs to be more study on the effectiveness of window awnings. 173 00:14:41,391 --> 00:14:45,597 It’s quite strange how little information there is on this topic, 174 00:14:45,597 --> 00:14:52,367 and most of what I’ve found are claims from  awning manufacturers so I’m not exactly taking them seriously. 175 00:14:52,367 --> 00:14:58,500 But it does seem pretty obvious to me that if you can eliminate direct sunlight transmission through a window, 176 00:14:58,500 --> 00:15:05,157 then you’re effectively turning any window into a North-facing window no matter which side of your house it’s on. 177 00:15:05,157 --> 00:15:10,012 And that could make a dramatic difference in the warm parts of the year. 178 00:15:10,012 --> 00:15:14,183 Unless you’re in the Southern hemisphere in which case, strike that - reverse it. 179 00:15:14,183 --> 00:15:18,057 Now, it’s not like awnings don’t come with any drawbacks. 180 00:15:18,057 --> 00:15:23,711 Most obvious is that they make the interior of your home much darker during the day. 181 00:15:23,711 --> 00:15:29,948 If the awning is made of a translucent material you could still get plenty of filtered light coming through the window, 182 00:15:29,948 --> 00:15:40,109 but its entire purpose is to eliminate direct sunlight and if that’s something you or your cat appreciates, well a proper awning is going to eliminate it. 183 00:15:40,109 --> 00:15:50,735 Although, I am quite curious about the potential effectiveness of a transparent awning made from glass with a really low solar heat gain coefficient. 184 00:15:50,735 --> 00:15:53,262 That might be a way to have the best of both worlds. 185 00:15:53,262 --> 00:15:56,782 And it would leave your view of the sky mostly unimpeded. 186 00:15:56,782 --> 00:15:58,781 Then there’s maintenance. 187 00:15:58,781 --> 00:16:05,328 The aluminum ones that still hang around were designed in response to the fiddle factor of fancy fabrics. 188 00:16:05,328 --> 00:16:12,592 Those fabrics would fade with time and required periodic cleaning, and depending on the design of the support structure, 189 00:16:12,592 --> 00:16:16,860 removing the fabric from the awning could be a pain in the butt. 190 00:16:16,860 --> 00:16:23,730 A rigid awning made of aluminum mostly took care of these problems, and that’s most likely why they started spreading. 191 00:16:23,730 --> 00:16:29,037 Then again, materials science has improved dramatically since awnings went out of fashion, 192 00:16:29,037 --> 00:16:32,766 and some fabric awnings can be selectively deployed. 193 00:16:32,766 --> 00:16:36,852 A roller-awning can be retracted when you don’t need or want it, 194 00:16:36,852 --> 00:16:41,417 and don’t look now but throw some Wi-Fi and actuators into the mix 195 00:16:41,417 --> 00:16:50,821 and you’ve got yourself a Smart Awning that could deploy exactly as much as needed and stay retracted on cloudy days or in inclement weather. 196 00:16:50,821 --> 00:16:55,294 The last main drawback to awnings that I can think of is pests. 197 00:16:55,294 --> 00:17:03,959 Through providing shelter for your window you’re also providing shelter for living creatures, and while I’d be pretty cool with a robin’s nest outside my window, 198 00:17:03,959 --> 00:17:06,822 a wasp nest is less cool. 199 00:17:06,822 --> 00:17:10,786 Then again, if the window is screened it’s not like that really matters all that much 200 00:17:10,786 --> 00:17:15,841 but I’ve dealt with my share of wasp nests and usually it’s best to not have to deal with them. 201 00:17:15,841 --> 00:17:23,264 But to be honest, all of those drawbacks seem pretty minor to me, and many of them aren’t even a thing all the time. 202 00:17:23,264 --> 00:17:29,181 I can tell you that I would freaking love some awnings on my home - particularly on the West side. 203 00:17:29,181 --> 00:17:33,326 I’m still doing that thing where I only run the air conditioning in the overnight hours 204 00:17:33,326 --> 00:17:39,516 and one of the most interesting things that technique has revealed is the dramatic effect of the sun. 205 00:17:39,516 --> 00:17:48,678 On cloudy days, even though it might be quite hot outside, my home only heats up by 5 or 6 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of the day. 206 00:17:48,678 --> 00:17:54,305 But if it’s a sunny day at the same temperature, that just about doubles. 207 00:17:54,305 --> 00:18:01,349 Of course, not all of that is heat from the windows - the  attic’s also getting stupid hot from the sun, and so are the walls. 208 00:18:01,349 --> 00:18:04,229 So it’s not easy to isolate that variable. 209 00:18:04,229 --> 00:18:12,904 But I can say it is truly remarkable how quickly the rooms on the West side start to heat up once the sun reaches those windows. 210 00:18:12,904 --> 00:18:15,349 Awnings aren’t the only solution, of course. 211 00:18:15,349 --> 00:18:23,627 There’s been a whole bunch of Europeans just champing at the commenting bit to let you know all about those exterior roller shutters they’ve had over there for a while. 212 00:18:23,627 --> 00:18:27,351 Those are interesting, and they’re starting to be sold here, 213 00:18:27,351 --> 00:18:32,344 but I’m curious to know how hot those shutters get in the sun. 214 00:18:32,344 --> 00:18:40,385 When closed they seem to trap a bit of air between them and the window glass, so while I have no doubt they’re blocking the sun, 215 00:18:40,385 --> 00:18:48,359 it seems to me like the window will be getting quite warm as the shutters radiate their absorbed heat into that airspace. 216 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:53,726 I’d rather have an awning, then that heat isn’t trapped and I can still look outside! 217 00:18:53,726 --> 00:18:58,720 Then there are exterior blinds. I’m starting to see these spread, often on porches. 218 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:06,902 They’re basically the same idea as Rolladen  but usually fabric and not integrated into the window frame or anything. 219 00:19:06,902 --> 00:19:14,960 Again, those will absolutely do the job of blocking sunlight from hitting the window, but they also block the view when in use which awnings don’t,   220 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,542 at least not the view out. 221 00:19:17,542 --> 00:19:20,795 If I seem gung-ho about awnings, well I am! 222 00:19:20,795 --> 00:19:25,071 I think they’re cool and have been tragically overlooked for the past half-century. 223 00:19:25,071 --> 00:19:27,557 Which brings me to one last thing. 224 00:19:27,557 --> 00:19:34,933 I live in a townhome which means if I wanted to install window awnings, I’d need to get the HOA involved. 225 00:19:34,933 --> 00:19:36,573 And that’s not fun. 226 00:19:36,573 --> 00:19:41,653 So - circling back to that earlier call to action where I said we should do more research on them, 227 00:19:41,653 --> 00:19:48,715 if it turns out that window awnings actually could  reduce a typical home’s cooling costs by 20%, 228 00:19:48,715 --> 00:19:54,029 then whaddya say we go ahead and neuter an HOA’s  ability to forbid their installation? 229 00:19:54,029 --> 00:20:01,806 Or, if that sounds too extreme, at the very least force HOAs to offer an assortment of approved styles and colors. 230 00:20:01,806 --> 00:20:08,983 Something tells me we’re going to want to find more and different ways to keep cool as these heat domes keep happening, 231 00:20:08,983 --> 00:20:16,596 and if something as simple as a window awning is as useful as it seems to be, uhh we should probably encourage their use. 232 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,742 Alright, well that’s it! 233 00:20:19,742 --> 00:20:28,966 If anyone out there is involved in evaluating building energy codes and all that fun stuff, please chime in with any info you might have on this topic. 234 00:20:28,966 --> 00:20:35,168 I really didn’t find anything specifically about awnings and how much they could reduce cooling costs, 235 00:20:35,168 --> 00:20:44,278 and from what I’ve heard there really isn’t much attention paid  to the effects of window overhangs at all outside of hyper-nerd circles. 236 00:20:44,278 --> 00:20:50,590 If window awnings were helpful before air conditioning, then surely they’re still helpful now. 237 00:20:50,590 --> 00:20:58,165 And given how a lot of new housing stock, even in places like Arizona, is getting built without window overhangs at all, 238 00:20:58,165 --> 00:21:05,838 either these new windows are miraculous marvels or we just kinda forgot the tricks of the past. 239 00:21:05,838 --> 00:21:08,228 Here’s to giving some of them another go. 240 00:21:09,195 --> 00:21:11,714 ♫ blisteringly smooth jazz ♫ 241 00:21:14,397 --> 00:21:16,087 …pretty universally liked. 242 00:21:16,087 --> 00:21:20,324 They let in natural light and allow us to look outside and see things! 243 00:21:20,324 --> 00:21:22,425 But… what was that? 244 00:21:22,425 --> 00:21:24,762 Probably nothing you heard but I stopped anyway. 245 00:21:24,762 --> 00:21:27,098 There’s gotta be two good takes in there. 246 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,254 I forgot how to tie a tie, I had to look it up! 247 00:21:30,254 --> 00:21:31,905 It’s been too long. 248 00:21:31,905 --> 00:21:34,995 Those grand covered porches you see on fancy… 249 00:21:35,503 --> 00:21:37,292 I am restarting this line. 250 00:21:37,292 --> 00:21:42,008 An awning on the porch permits the use of the  porch when the hot afternoon sun is shining. 251 00:21:42,008 --> 00:21:44,291 They will keep the porch shaft and pleasant, 252 00:21:44,291 --> 00:21:49,149 and this also reduces the temperature - I can skip the rest of this line because I already recorded the thing with the tie. 253 00:21:49,149 --> 00:21:51,959 That might be a way to have the best of both worlds. 254 00:21:51,959 --> 00:21:53,765 And it wood pfftehh…. 255 00:21:53,765 --> 00:21:55,836 [falls apart] 256 00:21:55,836 --> 00:21:57,710 [angry sigh] 257 00:21:59,209 --> 00:22:01,891 OK, so we gotta come up with some sort of pitch. 258 00:22:01,891 --> 00:22:03,454 Oooh, pitch. 259 00:22:03,454 --> 00:22:04,934 Baseball! 260 00:22:04,934 --> 00:22:08,761 Awnings: like a baseball cap for your house! 261 00:22:08,761 --> 00:22:10,861 Or maybe.... 262 00:22:10,861 --> 00:22:12,530 AWWWWWW 263 00:22:12,530 --> 00:22:13,587 nings.