Last year was the hottest year ever recorded in San Antonio, Texas. Unfortunately, experts say this warm trend will continue this year, projecting 2024 to be even hotter than 2023.
Those high temperatures will likely force you to rely more on your business’s air conditioning system. And while that can help keep your facilities and interior premises cool, it can also cause your electricity bills to skyrocket.
The good news is that commercial window tinting can help keep your interior space cool and comfortable. That makes window tinting films crucial to your business’s indoor comfort, safety, and energy savings.
We’ll examine why investing in window tinting is essential for your business, so read on.
Keep Your Indoor Space Cool
Building windows are a primary cause of heat gains and losses. For instance, they allow around 30% of a home’s heating energy to exit outdoors. Moreover, standard double-pane windows allow most of the sunlight falling on them to enter and become a heat source.
That means that during summer, a considerable amount of cooled air from your air conditioner goes to waste. At the same time, hot air from the outside enters, radiating and making your indoor space warmer.
Fortunately, commercial window tinting films can help mitigate heat gains and losses. They prevent cooled air inside your building from leaving through the windows. They also reject or block the heat from the sun and outside air.
So, with tinted windows, more cold air from your air conditioner stays inside while less heat from outside enters. That’s how window tinting can help keep your indoor space cool.
Save on Utility Bills
In Texas, electricity prices often surge due to heat waves. Indeed, there was even a day last August 2023 when the price went up from $275 to $2,500 per megawatt-hour! Such spikes occur as high temperatures cause a steep increase in electricity demand.
While tinting your commercial building’s windows won’t prevent heat waves, it can help control or lower your business’s electricity use.
That’s again due to how window films minimize heat gains and losses. Since they help prevent cold air from your AC from going to waste, your cooling system doesn’t have to work much harder to cool your indoor space. The same applies to car windows, so consider getting the best auto window tinting films for your company cars, too.
Conversely, when an air conditioner has to work harder, it uses more energy. Increased energy consumption translates to higher electricity bills.
Lower Your Business’s Carbon Footprint
Your business’s carbon footprint refers to its total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These GHGs can come from the following:
- Energy used for heating, cooling, and lighting up your commercial building or office
- Company transportation
- Business processes
The problem with human-caused GHGs is that they blanket the Earth and trap the sun’s heat. That’s the “greenhouse effect,” which results in global warming and climate change.
Therefore, everyone, including business owners, should strive to lower their carbon footprint. One way to do that is to reduce energy consumption.
Since window tinting films help control or cut your business’s heating and cooling energy use, they can also help lower its carbon footprint.
Minimize Risks of Ultraviolet (UV) Radiation Exposure
You may think that you and your employees are safe from the sun’s UV rays because everyone works indoors. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case, especially not for those who work near windows.
While standard window glass panes block nearly all UVB rays, they still allow some of the sun’s UVA rays in. The same is true for the side windows of vehicles; they reject nearly all UVB rays but only block around 44% to 71% of UVA rays.
What’s Wrong With UV Exposure?
UVA and UVB rays are so powerful that they can damage the skin.
UVB rays are the primary cause of sunburn and a leading cause of skin cancer. UVA rays are less potent but can penetrate the skin deeper. Prolonged exposure to either can lead to skin aging, and UVA rays can also cause eye damage and contribute to skin cancer risk.
How Window Tinting Films Provide UV Protection
The design and materials of high-quality window tinting films allow them to target specific wavelengths of UV rays. As a result, they can effectively reduce the transmission of both UVA and UVB rays from glass panes. The best films, such as the 3M Window Film, can block up to 99% of UV radiation.
So, with films on your building’s windows, you and your employees can worry less about the health and safety risks of UV exposure indoors.
Reduce Glare
Glare is light that can be so intense and blinding that it reduces visibility. It results from excessive and uncontrolled brightness in one’s field of view.
Here’s an example of glare at work inside your business premises or office:
Suppose your work area is right beside untreated windows. Sunlight streams in through them and hits your computer screen. The screen reflects the sunlight, creating a flash of white light temporarily obscuring your vision.
Although the blinding effects of glare can be temporary, they can still cause discomfort, sometimes even pain.
Luckily, window tinting films help reduce the amount of sunlight coming in, so they also help minimize glare.
May Help Raise Productivity Levels
Since glare can interfere with vision and cause discomfort and pain, it can also affect your and your employees’ workflow. For instance, you may have to take more frequent breaks than necessary because your eyes feel strained. That can lower your productivity levels.
That’s all the more reason to invest in commercial window tinting, considering it can help reduce glare. Less glare can mean more comfort, which can then help you work better and be more productive.
Protect Floors and Furnishing From UV Damage
If you don’t have window tinting at home, you may have noticed how curtains, drapes, upholstery, carpet, rugs, or floors near windows look faded. Sun-exposed fabrics may also feel scratchy, while UV-drenched wooden floors may feel brittle. These problems can all be due to prolonged UV exposure, which you can prevent with residential window films.
Installing commercial window films allows you to enjoy the same benefits in your business premises or office. Tinted windows help protect fabrics, floors, and furnishing from UV-caused fading and damage. That then helps prolong their lifespan, helping you save money from not having to repair or replace them early.
Increase Privacy
Modern commercial window films can be as dark, translucent, or transparent as you want. Frosted films are also available, which allow sunlight (but not UV rays!) in and block unwanted views.
You can also opt for one-way window films, which let you see the outside from the inside. However, they prevent people outside from seeing what’s inside.
Those films can help increase privacy in all or specific areas of your business premises or office. First-floor office rooms that deal with sensitive information or contain valuable items are perfect examples.
Boost Window Security and Safety
Commercial window films can strengthen fragile glass panes by making them more impact-resistant. Even if the glass shatters, the film attached to it can keep the shards together, preventing them from scattering and causing injuries. However, security and safety films are the best for this job compared to the other types of window tinting products.
Security and safety films feature more robust materials, making them stronger and more durable. Manufacturers, like 3M, specifically engineer them to withstand higher forces and pressure. That further increases their impact resistance, making it more difficult for glass panes to break, crack, or shatter.
So, with security and safety films on your windows, intruders and criminals won’t easily be able to break into your premises. That can then help you and your employees feel more at ease.
Security and safety films also help protect from the dangers of broken glass caused by events like earthquakes. Quakes may not be prevalent in San Antonio, TX, but they do happen, and when they do, they can cause window glass to shatter.
Enhance Building or Office Aesthetics
Last but not least, commercial window tinting can add a touch of aesthetic appeal to your business premises or office. Dark tints look cool, while frosted films are pretty and give off an elegant, modern, and clean appearance. Some films, like the 3M Architectural and Glass Finishes, even let you choose from numerous patterns.
So, if your workplace looks a bit drab, consider transforming it with decorative window tints and glass films. They can wow not only you and your employees but also your potential and existing customers.
Invest in Commercial Window Tinting Services Today
From increased indoor comfort to UV protection and lower energy bills, these are just some reasons to invest in commercial window tinting. So, why not consider getting high-quality window films for your business today?
Fletch Window Tint can provide all your window tinting needs, whether for your business, home, or car. With our 30+ years of experience and numerous certifications and accreditations, no job is too small, big, or complex for us. We’re also confident in our work and back them up with some of the best warranties in the industry.
So, call us today if you’re ready to reap the benefits of high-quality window films. We’ll happily give you a free quote!