Make Your Own Energy-Saving Thermal Curtains

“Windows are very frequently a source of lost heat in your home. Older homes may suffer from only having single-paned windows, which lose a large amount of heat, and even newer double-paned insulated windows lack enough insulation against cold winter temperatures and wind. However, you can save home heating costs and easily bulk up the insulation around your windows by making your own inexpensive thermal curtains.

Thermal curtains are energy-efficient window shades* that insulate against the cold around your windows. They are a thick and heavy buffer and can significantly decrease the money you spend on energy to heat your house. If you are handy with a sewing machine or know someone who is, there’s not much more you need than some old blankets or comforters, fabric, and a fair amount of time.”

Instructionshttps://blog.sustainablog.org/energy-saving-cheap-thermal-curtains/

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

6 Responses to Make Your Own Energy-Saving Thermal Curtains

  1. Those curtains would be so much more effective if there was a pelmet across the top, and the curtains were wider than the window and didn't have a gap between the curtain and the wall. Makes me cold just looking at all those drafty gaps 😉

  2. It's a good idea, but if you don't close up the top and sides, air will thermo-siphon through the gaps and you won't have nearly so much energy savings.

  3. Saving money on utility bills, and plowing those savings into more energy-saving upgrades, is a great way to keep pushing the envelope. The more you save – the more you can save again later.

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