Not to mention they are less work than trees
You can definitely put them up and take them down faster.
Maybe, in the future, we’ll have rapid up/rapid down trees? With AI. Maybe they’ll get the ability to walk, too, so they can stand where they provide the most shade.
Oh, AI Tree Ents? That’s the future we’re going for? I mean, I’m in, but I didn’t realize that was even on the table!
We make the table, so we get to decide what’s on it. But don’t make the table from trees, the ents get mad.
They have those. They are called umbrellas.
our house was built in the early 2000s. It has an awning.
Why were they forgotten? Probably because manual awnings suck, and once extended if it’s windy, it’s a rather fun time having it out.
Other than that, they’re pretty good. I actually plan to experiment with passive building cooling using a similar technique, instead of an awning, it’ll be a diffusion sheet of light fabric to block direct sunlight exposure to the walls, hopefully providing a decent bit of cooling, but naturally, i have to get around to testing it in the first place.
Awnings don’t have to be a piece of fabric flapping in the wind. Wood, metal, extended roof overhangs, a deciduous tree, really anything that provides exterior shade to a window will be quite effective at reducing interior heating.
If you want one that retracts then fabric is probably the best option. I guess you could have a hard material that’s made if panels that slide over each other, but that’d likely be a lot more expensive without much benefit. Alternatively you can have the vertical metal covers that extend and retract.
Fabric also is easily and cheaply replaced when the inevitable wear out sets in.
it’s meant to be temporary and easily replaceable, the idea is to put it up during the summer so it blocks most radiate heating of the building, and then take it down throughout the rest of the year so you can still get a good view out the window.
I could also do dedicated window awnings, or retractable ones, but that’s not my style. But yeah you have a good point. I was thinking about a different kind of awning initially lol.
Unless the feature of the view is nearly straight up from the window, properly designed awnings don’t block the view at all.
Unless the feature of the view is nearly straight up from the window, properly designed awnings don’t block the view at all.
that’s true, not my style though, if it isn’t clearly autistic i generally don’t vibe with it.
“Fun fact: the Sun is extremely powerful.”
Bahahahaha! I like this guy.
I heard that the sun is a deadly laser, ya learn something new all the time
Not anymore
Dude, check out his channel. A wealth of knowledge and laughs
Very dry laughs. And alliteration.
And latent heat.
And the magic of buying two of them!
Florida used to build houses with metal awning you would fold down over the window for hurricanes. We did away with those because hurricanes got stronger and would rip them off turning them to flying projectiles. Now we have panels and no awnings. Because of hurricane codes
The stronger hurricanes myth: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerpielke/2019/11/15/no-hurricanes-are-not-bigger-stronger-and-more-dangerous/
This article is from 2019 and argues against the methods laid out in research article published at the same time. It does not provide adequate evidence to support your claim that thid is a myth. I Will do some more research later today, but this author writes for a think tank. I’d advise some due dillignece before reading this guys material. Forbes is also right leaning so will have some level of bias here.
Eccentric midwestern home owner has strong opinions about home designs, news at 11. I love his channel, did you see his trilogy about oil lamps?
i religiously watch the oil lamp videos. For some reason.
Yes and his dish washer video was awesome as well. Agreed great channel.
All 3 dish washer videos.
Don’t forget about the other dish washer videos on connextras.
Are you guys playing a bit or is someone gonna link the youtuber for those interested?
edit: I’m an idiot, ignore me
For the other idiots that stumble upon this post, see the most OP for a link.
You could of course click the video since that’s by the content producer.
In my house in North Carolina, I put up radiant barrier foil in the attic. It was cheap and made a huge difference in the upstairs temperature. I stapled it to the joysts so there was an air gap on both sides of the foil, and so that the hot air would rise out of the roof vents.
I’ve been planning for the last year some eco home upgrades, and awnings on the south facing windows are high on the list. With so many possible upgrades and so little money it’s difficult to know what to do first.
do the cheapest and most simple things you can do first, even if minor, it provides a small window for you to royally fuck up and gives you some room grow into
Awnings would likely be a pretty cheap and impactful one.
I’ve put 500mm of insulation in the loft, plenty of mistakes made there.
Just managed to get an electric awning to go over the lounge window for £140, fingers crossed it all goes well and if so I’ll do the upstairs windows too.
15 more things on the list though.
don’t worry, the list will grow shortly enough :)
There is always something new to be doing unfortunately.
These things are technologically obsolete imo. The same result can be achieved with glass coatings, without requiring the extra work to install/maintain or replace these appendages.
These awnings work against losing heat to the night sky, the same effect of which can be achieved with anti emissive coatings that reflect heat radiation back inside.
The awnings also work against the sun when it’s high in the sky, for which there are now anti solar coatings which will reflect more light from certain angles.
Nostalgia is nice, but the modern solution is easier + cheaper to install and maintain.
A tldr image: https://www.agc-glass.eu/sites/default/files/styles/max_1300x1300/public/2024-05/diagram-coatings leaflet.JPG?itok=s97bN-aV
Longer promotional article: https://www.agc-glass.eu/en/sustainability/glass-sustainable-architecture/energy-saving-glass
You haven’t watched the video have you?
I’m afraid to admit that I have not, will do it this evening but until then I will remain ignorant.
Edit: Just skimmed through it because I couldn’t wait and the video did not change my opinion at all.
The presenter seems to be unaware that there exist glasses which reflect different amounts of light depending on the angle. Up north, where he lives, the angle of the sun is much lower in winter than in summer. There exists glass that is designed for that.
A large awning to create extra seasonal living space outside, sure, those are still great. Small window awnings like ik the thumbnail picture, definitely not, those are a waste of time and money.
I was also disappointed by how dismissive the presenter was of scientifically based findings that did not align with his feelings. Curtains work great.
There’s literally a whole section on glass coatings. But he makes the point fairly reasonably that in large parts of the world the climate is extremely seasonal and so you don’t necessarily want glass coatings because they affect the glass all year round. Is a good point really perhaps you live in a temperate climate and so are not as cognizant of this.
The curtains bit is especially stupid because obviously curtains heat up and then radiate that heat back into the room so no they don’t block heat they block light. If you want it to be dark then you have curtains if you want it to be cool they don’t do anything.
Lol, you’re bothered by him not watching the video, and now you’re not reading his comments XD. He already said in the previous comment there are glass coatings that work dependent on the angle of the sun, so coatings that will have different effects in different seasons, so he already addressed the possible issue of glass coatings working all year round, and said that according to him it’s not an issue if you choose the right coating.
I am reading these comments they’re just uninformed and he’s pushing this view that he has which is fine but he’s not watched the videos why the hell is he commenting about it.
And why do you care so much, I just feel that in a sub-related to videos, people should possibly watch the videos before commenting and making irrelevant comments that are already addressed in the video, but you go ahead and be a dick
Yeah, and on a discussion space it’s probably also best that you actually read the comments you’re replying to. He felt that the video wouldn’t teach him anything since he’s considers himself already knowing a lot about the subject.
I just pointed out the irony of you being bothered about him not watching a clickbait video about a topic he believes he already knows more about that such a video can teach. And you then tell him the video makes points he already dismissed.
He might be a bit abrasive how he entered the discussion, but if he works in the industry and knows why awnings are no longer a thing, and already dismisses the points the video made against more modern technologies since he seems to know what modern technologies are actually like… that does seem actually useful to this discussion. I get him not wanting to waste 20 minutes…
Hey, thanks for sticking up for me. Noone else seems to dare go against the bandwagon.
Personally I don’t get people, I provide sources and am open to alternate viewpoints, but most people just want to blindly believe whatever last video they watched unfortunately.
No problem :)
Keep posting useful info on topics like this, we need more factcheckers on clickbait videos about how centuries old technology would still be the best.
I live in a desert, I have coatings in my windows. Installing awnings still dropped my monthly cooling by almost 15% for the four months a year I use climate control. The really good window coatings are far more expensive than awnings to install and construction materials aren’t so easy to get in Mexico, maybe in Belgium they have unlimited money and access but there are like 7.5 billion other people in the world who live outside of Europe.
I’m no expert on this subject at all, i’m not pro or contra awnings, i just felt bad for someone going into deeper detail on modern techologies getting downvoted for not agreeing with the video because he works in the industry, while making good points (and having his points ignored)
If you have a situation were awnings worked really well, and are cheaper than modern alternatives, awesome, well done :)
Activitypub down votes are spam imo, they are fully public too so if you run Lemmy software you can see it’s mostly just bullshit, drive-by dowvotes and really mad people retaliation downvoting an entire profile. I didn’t vote in this thread
Well, I hate to disappoint you, but curtains work for energy savings. If you are open to changing your mind, here’s an explanation: https://www.thermal-engineering.org/thermal-curtains-material-home-energy-saving/
You always want glass coatings on outside window glass, no matter the climate. Depending on where you live, you want different coatings obviously, but coatings are essential in modern glass panes.
And since you seem to be entirely unaware of what already exists in the construction industry, here’s another article with a bit more explanation: https://en.aaglas.nl/producten/warmtewerend-glas. A low zta will stop a good portion of the summer sun, while a high lta will still allow through a lot of light from low angles (including from the weak winter sun). Select glass that has a high lta/zta factor and you have glass that is good both in winter and in summer in northern Europe. The Netherlands is at lattitude of about 52°, while most Canadians live a few degrees south of that, so these same solutions would work there as well.
I need to put up some windows in the Hague, you seem to know your shit, care to pm me your company or contractor?
I work in industrial construction in and around Belgium, offices, factory buildings and so on. Unfortunately I can’t help you with a small job in the Hague and I suspect that your job is too small + too far for our subcontractors.
I would ask the window system producers for contractors near you, try: https://www.schueco.com/nl/particulieren/raamsystemen And/or https://www.reynaers.nl/
Better idea. They’re called trees.
Honestly, I kinda hate the big tree in our front yard. It has these tiny leaves and every fall we have to clean the roof and gutters repeatedly until it finally drops everything, because those stupid leaves stick to everything and clog not just the gutters but the downpipes. This tree has caused our basement to flood during fall because one storm can simultaneously blow off a ton of leaves, instantly clogging the gutter, and then pour rain down the front of the house. We spent hundreds of dollars last year on a new gutter solution for 6ft of gutter. You read that right. Six feet of gutter cost us about $450, and they STILL wouldn’t guarantee it would fix the problem because of the stupid tree.
We keep the tree trimmed and healthy, but every time the trimmers come out I dream about telling him to cut the stupid thing down. Awnings would be easier -_-
As a guy who does concrete. Trees close to your house love to drive roots through your foundation. Trees are great but can really do some damage. Especially where I live. Ground water is about 80’ or deeper. The tree roots here stay shallow and spread out everywhere.
one of our neighbors has a 60-ish foot tall spruce about 14’ from his house. There’s a betting pool on whether it’ll squish his place or one of his neighbors in the next big wind storm.
trees near buildings are a nightmare, they can often grow weirdly due to lack of sun, and often make maintenance and clean up on the tree itself a nightmare, if it grows to close to your house you need to do something about it. They are also generally liabilities during storms, especially if they hang directly over your house.
Like a previous commenter said, they can be problematic for foundations and driveways and things like that. It seems fairly common that surface level root structures will expose themselves and start to pop through the top layer of dirt, primarily due to soil erosion and compaction i imagine, but that’s another problem for grounds keeping as well.
Speaking of grounds keeping, trees make grass grow really inconsistently, and also generally provide “dead spots” where the grass will get almost no sun, and almost certainly die. Also mowing under them is hard. Trees don’t really grow at human accessible heights all that often. And when they do, they’re not as good for providing shade.
I live in Chicago. So does Alec. Stop the video at 5:44. All the trees are doing far more cooling and shading to the entire area than shitty old window awnings blocking single windows.
Are you going to elaborate on why it’s better or did you just want to be a contrarian?
Is it not enough that trees look better?
IDK why you have to choose one or the other, though.
Why would that be enough when we’re talking keeping a house cool?
I am VERY pro-tree. A lack of trees is why I moved (and why I decided against buying a few homes)… But trees are not a “better idea” for this purpose so it was a useless statement to make
Shade?
https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/using-trees-and-vegetation-reduce-heat-islands
https://news.wisc.edu/study-suggests-trees-are-crucial-to-the-future-of-our-cities/
Trees create a cooling effect past shading the area. It’s a combination of shade and evaporative cooling.
Those links discuss cooling outdoor spaces. They don’t compete with awnings for keeping sunlight from warming up your house unless you plant them close enough to do so and come with a ton of downsides (roof damage, leaves clogging gutters, roots breaking pipes and foundation)…not to mention how long it takes a tree to grow tall enough to provide that sort of shade
Trees will shade far more surface area than just a window. I’ve got 9 around my house. They block direct sun through the windows all summer. While not blocking any light in the winter. They also keep the siding and sections of the roof cool.
Better idea, they’re not mutually exclusive
Our house has a pretty big roof overhang, and it definitely does keep things cooler.
The downside is that the house is pretty dim.
That’s a rude thing to say about your house. There’s more than just book smarts, you know.
I’ve got a large plate glass door in the side of my house, and I’m thinking of installing a pergola outside it. Grow something on it that gets nice and leafy in the summer and bare in the winter.
I had a nice pergola at another house I grew grape vines on. I sure do miss it.
I live on a street corner, and the house across the street from me fronts onto the road we don’t share, if that make sense. It’s like my house points ^ and his house points <. So my house faces his side yard, and he’s let it kind of go native, complete with these gorgeous wild muscadine vines. They’re native to the area and they thrive with no attention at all; I have it on good authority those vines have been there for 60 years. That’s my plan.
I was watching this earlier and got about halfway through before the power went out. I spent the next 90 minutes before it came back on trying to imagine a style of these that would look good on the south side of my house.
I didn’t come up with anything that my wife would let me install so I guess I’m going to stick with my plan of automated shades or drapes.
Interior shades aren’t nearly as effective as exterior. Once that sun gets through the window, it’s already giving that next interior surface quite a bit of heat.
There are many styles of awning or other shading elements. You can have metal slats or what looks like a wood box that comes out horizontally over the window. I’m sure something could fit your house’s aesthetic. And perhaps ask your wife what value she’d put on thermal comfort.
Looking for shading elements or shading strategies might get broader results than simply sheet metal or fabric awnings.
Interior shades are a special kind of heating by trapping and converting every.
I just got awnings installed two months ago on the windows that get sun for most of the day. It dropped the temps in those rooms by almost 8 degrees Celsius on hot days. The AC even runs less during the day now.
They’re simple retractable awnings that a local guy installed for me. I used to hate the idea of awnings, but the thought about IR heat getting trapped clicked with me recently and suddenly the idea of awnings seemed brilliant.
As the video points out, those are cool but block the view, and still hear up the room.
Since the video’s point is that awnings are too unattractive for people to use them, then hot damn is that so much worse. Solid metal gates - for when you want your house to look like a convenience store in a bag neighborhood when riots are about to start.
The most common ones are made out of very thin plastic. There’s also older ones out of wood. The most common ones are out of aluminum, so not strictly protective. Steel shutters are rather rare on houses and more something stores would use.
These are soooo common on old houses in Melbourne. I’ve never met anyone who lives in one, but they’re often closed all year which is insane to me (are these people sitting in the dark in their living rooms??)
Kind of looks like a body of water off to the left. If this is in a hurricane area those are kind of practical for a different reason.
I’ve lived in NY for too long and that looks like it needs spray paint and giant locks
You should actually watch the video, he does adress them
I don’t watch clickbait videos.
…Have you never watched Technology Connections before? None of his videos are clickbait. Quite the opposite, the entire video is about whatever is in the title.
No. And I literally see two fat arrows in the thumbnail. That’d be an instant block if that would land on my YT page.
You shouldn’t judge a channel purely by thumbnail. Everyone else in this thread can attest to the high quality of his videos.
I just generally have an aversion towards clickbait of any kind to the point where I can’t stand any video / channel using it. It’s cheap and manipulative and everyone supporting such shady tactics is someone I don’t want to associate with in any form.
The two big arrows pointing to the awnings, the things the video are about and that are in the title? Huh?
So? It’s still a clickbait tactic, same with the idiotically capitalized words a lot of channels use, or the shocked faces. Just because you are unaware of the psychological manipulation of clickbait tactics, does not mean this goes for everyone.
I dunno what to tell you it’s by definition not clickbait. You could argue that it’s teasing or engagement baiting I guess but it isn’t clickbait.
No offense but they are also fucking ugly
It sure why you’re being downvoted, it’s is unfortunately true. Makes your house look like a diner most of the time…
Most suburban houses he was showing in the video look hideous and not because of awnings.
There’s a house near me who has disgusting cheap awnings on their house. I want them so badly to just take them down. They have all kinds of trees casting shade on their house anyway.
Why do you care that much?
Cool, thanks for pointing those out. I really need something like that
my neighbour installed awnings a couple years ago, they look great
