Insulating Window Shades

The right insulating window shades can drastically prevent heat from escaping your home in winter and entering in summer, reducing energy loss and helping you stay comfortable all year long.

And while Roman and solar shades, drapery and even shutters can help improve room’s energy efficiency, they don’t measure up to the top window treatment for keeping a room warmer when it’s colder and cooler when temps heat up.

So which window shades do the best job at providing insulation at the window?

That honor goes to cellular shades.

Insulated Cellular Shades

Cellular shades are the most insulating shades on the market. They’re available in a variety of styles, from traditional honeycomb to cellular shades that combine the look of a roller shade with a cellular shade.

How Other Window Treatments Compare

Cellular shades win on insulation because of how they are built, not because the alternatives do nothing. It helps to know what each of the others gives you.

Roman shades add a layer of fabric across the glass, and a lined Roman blocks more than an unlined one, but the fabric hangs flat against the window with no trapped air behind it.

Solar shades are built for a different job. They cut glare and UV while keeping the view, which reduces the heat the sun brings in, but the open weave that preserves the view also lets air move through it.

Drapery is the closest of the four when it is floor length and lined, because heavy fabric slows air movement at the window. It takes up far more room than a shade.

Shutters give you a solid panel and an air gap when the louvers are closed, which is more insulation than most people expect, though the gaps around the louvers and the frame keep it short of a sealed cellular shade.

How Much Difference the Construction Makes

The Department of Energy estimates a home can lose up to 30% of its heating and cooling energy through its windows. How much of that a shade holds back depends on how it is built, and there is an independent measure of it. The Attachments Energy Rating Council rates window coverings for U-factor, which is the rate heat moves through the product, and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient, which is how much of the sun's heat it blocks. Lower is better on both, and 0.30 or lower is the threshold to look for. Hunter Douglas was the first manufacturer to earn AERC certification for interior window coverings.

The table below is AERC's published data, measured against the same baseline window in every row.

Median values across each line, shade closed. Individual fabrics vary, and room-darkening fabrics generally rate better than light-filtering ones.

The pattern is the cells. Adding a honeycomb inside a honeycomb takes the median U-factor from 0.36 to 0.24, roughly a third lower, and nearly halves the solar heat that gets through. That is the difference between a cellular shade and the most insulating cellular shade.

Because those ratings give utilities a standard to work from, some energy companies now rebate certified cellular shades. Hunter Douglas lists the programmes currently running on its utility rebates page.

Applause^® Cellular Shades

Applause^® Cellular Shades are the other honeycomb line. Hunter Douglas builds them with a double-cell design, two rows of cells stacked front to back rather than one, and in AERC's ratings they sit between the standard Duette^® line and the Architella^® construction shown in the table above. They are offered across a wide range of fabrics and opacities, including room-darkening, which makes them a practical choice when you want honeycomb insulation across a lot of windows rather than a few.

The Original Honeycomb Shades

Duette^® Honeycomb Shades are the original cellular shades, featuring a unique honeycomb construction that traps air in distinct pockets for an extra layer of insulation at the window. These window treatments also filter light beautifully and are available in a wide selection of fabrics and colors, including room-darkening opacities.

Duette shades are also available with cordless control options, making them a safer choice for homes with children.

Duette^® Architella^® Honeycomb Shades for Maximum Insulation

Duette^® Honeycomb Shades Fabric: Architella^® Alexa^™ Color: Desert Sands

Alustra^® Duette^® Architella^® Honeycomb Shades Fabric: Apollo^™ Color: Reflection

For even better insulation, you could opt for Duette^® Architella^® Shades, which features a honeycomb-within-a-honeycomb design. Duette Architella shades have more layers of fabric than Duette shades, for even greater energy efficiency.

Insulating Your Home with Roller Shades

Sonnette^® Cellular Roller Shades Fabric: Elan^® Color: Daisy White

Sonnette^® Cellular Roller Shades combine the insulating construction of a cellular shade with the clean lines and simplicity of a roller shade. Their cleverly curved shape gently softens light for a beautiful glow while providing energy efficiency at the window. Choose from over 50 fabrics and colors, ranging from versatile neutrals to vibrant hues, as well as semi-opaque and room-darkening opacities and cordless controls.

Sonnette^® Roller Shades Fabric: Textura^™ Color: French Beige

Sonnette^® Roller Shades Fabric: Heritage^™ Color: Chester

How Motorization Plays an Important Role

With PowerView^® Automation, you can conveniently raise and lower your shades with a button press, tap on a mobile device, or even with your voice (and your favorite voice assistant).

You can also schedule PowerView shades to move automatically, at certain times of the day, to the exact position you desire. Being able to schedule your shades to move automatically means they’ll be in the best positions to block heat loss when the weather’s cold or keep out harsh rays when it’s hot.

AERC measures that difference. A Duette^® Architella^® shade rates a median 10 for cool-climate performance in typical use and 50 when it is automated, because an automated shade is in the right position at the times that decide the result.

Responding to Light and Temperature Sensors

For instance, when a room reaches a certain temperature, you can set your shades to automatically block light from entering that room. This provides better insulation and also prevents the sun from fading and deteriorating your fabrics, carpet, hardwood floors and other wood surfaces. Or, to keep your home warmer in the winter, you could program your shades to open when the sun is shining in your room and close when it’s moved away. You can even customize the shades in each room to operate differently, depending on how you use the room and how much sun is coming in.

Getting the Most Insulation from Your Shades

The fabric does the work, but the fit decides how much of that work you keep. A shade mounted inside the opening leaves a gap at each side, and warm or cold air moves through that gap regardless of how many cells the fabric has. An outside mount that overlaps the frame closes most of it. Side channels close the rest: LightLock^® seals the edges of a Duette^® shade against the window frame, and while it is built for light control, the same seal cuts air movement at the opening.

Duolite^® is worth considering if one room has to do two jobs. It puts a sheer and a room-darkening fabric on a single shade, so you can keep the view during the day and add the insulating layer when the temperature drops.

Insulation performance depends on a shade that fits the opening precisely, so measurement matters as much as fabric choice. A local Hunter Douglas specialist can measure your windows and quote the options above.

Insulation performance depends on a shade that fits the opening precisely, so measurement matters as much as fabric choice. A local Hunter Douglas specialist can measure your windows and quote the options above.