The solution is kindergarten simple. Here's some facts though to ease your mind. Every square foot of sunlight carries almost 100 watts of heat. It's really about 88 watts but say 100. We'll subtract 12% (100-88) later. So imagine you have windows 24" x 36" . That's about 6 sq feet. And they can let in 100 watts per sq foot. how many watts of power = 600 watts. Here's where that makes sense: An electric floor heater is about 1500 watts. So imagine in the Summer turning on a floor heater and leaving it on for 1/2 hour then turn it off for 1/2 hour all during the day. That's about how much heat can come through that one window. Will putting something to keep heat out help. --- Next on the roof. Insulation doesn't keep heat in or out. Is slows down how long it takes to come. So it's going to come in no matter what unless. You block it. Imagine your roof is 20 feet x 40 feet and you have a 2 story house. That's a 1600 sq foot house. 800 on the top floor = 20 x 40 and 800 on the bottom. that's no matter. So 100 watts x 800 = 80,000 watts of heat It's going to get through. So will it help to shade it? Let's be real. If only 1/10th of that heat gets into the house that's still the same as 5 x 1500 watts of heat on all day in Summer. Would you turn on a heater in those examples above. Then don't let the heat come in How to do it cheap. Anything on the windows help. Foil is ok. it will last for years if you fit it to the window first and then glue it down on cardboard. Then you can place it into the window. Maybe even make it so it flips down , etc , for the view. Roof. Painting the roof white helps a lot compared to black roofs. Is the cost worth it? It's probably not compared to other choices like planting tress but a. Tress can ruin a roof. Chinese elm puts tiny leaves which keep water on a roof no matter what. That rots and so some tress avoid. b. Trees take time to grow but you can buy them 'fully' grown. And install them fully grown. b2) Palm ? They're not going to shade much but you just calculate what they'll shade , the cost, the cost per sq ft of shading and pick the tree with the lowest cost per sq foot of shading. c. Other roofing choices. Foam roofing is not hard to do yourself. You must read up on it. Practice. Then you can do it yourself. Pull a permit from the city. The equipment used is $15,000. You can sell it again for probably the same price if you clean it. That cleaning IS a part of reading how to maintain it. Cost for 2000 sq foot roof in materials is about $3000 for everything. Foam and the white latex coating that's reapplied every 10-15 years. As long as it's reapplied the foam should last a 'lifetime' (50 to 200 years) Without reading any of the posts there's are other ideas probably. Have a flat roof? here's an idea. Put up trees on the roof. Be sure to have a registered architect or structural engineer. But you could have a garden on the roof shading within a few weeks. put a lot of trees in containers and you could make some money selling them as they got too big. And birds lvoe it if there's grass and wild plants. it's a real viable 'way to do business' now a days in old and new construction. KEYWORDS To search Coolroofs Green roofs Attic insulation. It's easy and cheap. If you can put it under the actual roof rather than on top of the attic 'floor' it will do more for the amount. In fact that under the actual roof is an ideal place to practice when you buy the foam machine. Again you must read and study before you do it. But it really is 'stupid simple' You can foam the under roof for $2000 and put an r-8 or r-12 where it will do a lot of good. Cost is about $1500 for 2000 sq feet. You can't rent the foam equipment from my research but buying it is not a bad choice. It's simple well designed equipment nearly identical to airless spray paint sprayer. do both. under actual roof and top of attic floor. THere's no reason not to. Here's an FYI. Making your own insulation is 'easy' . 5 layers (about) of paper, foil, paper, foil, etc is exactly what was used in the commercial building trade for under the roof insulation. The paper can be from newspaper end rolls. Fireproofing it can be done with a couple of cheap, safe to use, easy to buy chemicals. Read up by reading about fireproofing for theaters and stage productions. If you have a community theater ask the director or stage production manager where they buy fireproofing liquids. Or make your own as was done for hundreds of years. To save money always. Go to a Chinese bulk product site. Look up the price they sell a TON of something for. Then look at what you pay. You'll soon figure out a decent multiple, say 10x , their price and then never pay more than that. in the case of fireproofing sodium silicate also called 'water glass' is $250 / ton or 10c / lb. Buy 50 lbs for $10 and you've got yourself a deal. Mix it with water, spray it on , let it dry and try to burn the paper or cloth. It won't burn. Ok that's my dump. Enjoy and keep it cool. Putting up a few solar panels to heat water will keep heat off that part of the roof. Just a thought.

Hi, I think most retired people would like to move into an efficient home given that they are going to be paying the heating bills, which just go up and up. Making homes more thermally efficient is a no-brainer -- it saves money on heating bills and reduces carbon emissions. If a mandatory program was put in place (which I would like to see), it could be set up so that the savings in fuel bills more than offset the cost of the extra money that would have to be borrowed for the improvements -- this is a win for everyone, and should improve homes sales, not reduce them -- I think you guys need to take a longer and wider view rather than fight everything that might cost you a little bit of short range adapting. Isn't a housing stock that people can afford to heat going to make for more qualified home owners and more sales? I'm a retired person, and its important to me that we get moving on doing something meaningful on carbon reduction for my grandkids. Gary

Hey G!! sorry to hear about your knee..but glad you are on the mend. I think we got your summer...it was a hot one, but I prefer heat to cold, last winter...was pure hell for me. I've always been allergic, but like wasp stings the poison ivy reaction seems to get worse as I age. I swear all I have to do is look at it wrong..and it includes sumac, poison oak & just about every thing with leaves of three & red stems. being a yardie (new to me term for yard junkie) and living in the woods fighting these things is a neverending job. I must have gotten hold of some roots in one of the flower beds. and with our crazy weather last winter...I even got it in feburary. so whats the deal with the roof? doing a cool roof or something complex? or just having trouble with weather cooperating? sounds like you have perfect weather to get it done this weekend...just be careful up there! do you still have those wonderfully explained igu windows 101 posts from the building forum? I'd like to share them on another forum...maybe in general discussion part of the site as other areas are locked to the publc. I'd really like to get them into the building science forum...but its only for pro members...you wouldn't have an epa card by any chance?? anyway let me know. and again...great to hear from you. take care.

I live in Canada, particularly Ontario where we are going through a Hydro crisis right now. People have to choose between paying their hydro bill and putting food on their tables. It's really sad. I'm thankful to not be a person who has to make that choice but many of my friends are unfortunately in this situation. We just finished building our home and I prepared myself for massive hydro bills. That wasn't the case and I attribute it to the fact that my entire house is brand new. From wiring to new energy efficient appliances. The highest my bill I get is $220 in the summer when the AC is running on the hottest days. Normally my bill sits around $150/month. I have dimmers in my entire home. My Dad is an electrician so I grew up with them and wanted them in my home. If I'm not in a room, the lights aren't on. If someone isn't arriving at night, my outside lights are NEVER on. They're beautiful but what's the point? My stove is run by propane rather than by electricity. I'm rural so I'm not on the regular time-of-use that Urbanites are and yet still, I only do my laundry at night and on weekends. I got use to TOU in all my apartments so it's just become a habit. I don't pack my fridge to the brim to save it from having to work harder to cool. I only run full loads in my dishwasher. If there's not enough and I need stuff, I wash it by hand. We BBQ through the summer which is cheaper than using electricity, and even in the winter too. The cold doesn't stop us. And pretty much everything can be cooked on a BBQ. People don't do enough to reduce their energy bills. They say they do and maybe some do but then they leave a microwave light on at night. Our home is pitch black in the evening. Watching TV in the dark isn't good for you haha! But we do it or keep the lights really low. We only run the bathroom fans as long as they need to clear the room. If we go downstairs during the day, there's no point in turning the lights on. And we only have 2 windows down there. (It's currently unfinished which helps. We don't pay to heat down there. It's usually about 8-10° cooler) We don't have fans in any of the rooms. I should mention that closing vents is not good for your furnace. Particularly when running AC. When it's summer, it's harder for us to cool the house because we get the hottest sun through the side of our home that has the most windows. But in the winter it's beneficial. If it's a certain temp or below, we shut the furnace off (AC) and open the windows. We also have a programmable thermostat so the heat/AC fluctuates during the day according to our work schedules. I disagree with Mike to an extent. Depending on what type of lights you have, it can make a huge difference. I hate the type of light that LED's give off so you will never find one in my house. (Correction. I have 1 in my ensuite. I'm not a huge fan but I've got use to it) The rest of my home is recessed incandescent lighting.