Can Choosing the Right Paint Color Save on Your Home Energy Costs?
We’re all looking for ways to be more eco-friendly, and it’s an added bonus when going green means saving some green.
Many folks have already switched to reusable straws, cloth grocery bags, and digital receipts rather than printed ones. But did you know that something as simple as changing the color of the paint in and outside your home can save you money on energy costs and reduce your carbon footprint?
How the Right Painter Saves Energy Costs
Lighting Costs
Homeowners and designers often use white and other light colors in interior painting because it gives the illusion of a bigger space. While this is already a nice benefit, painting with light colors can also do wonders help cut down on lighting costs in your home.
Light colors — white especially — reflect light. Conversely, dark colors absorb light. Even in a small space, choosing light colors for you interior paint can help to maximize any natural light that pours in through your windows.
And as the seasons grow colder and night creeps in earlier, having light-colored paint on your walls helps combat the need to flick on all your lamps. Even if your heating costs go up during winter, you can cut down on electricity used by expensive lighting.
If you really want to get into the finer details of maximizing light and minimizing energy cost, ask us at ELCO Painting about the Light Reflectance Value assigned to the colors of paint you are interested in.
A paint color’s LVR will give you an idea of just how much light to can expect to fill the room with. ELCO Painting’s experienced home painting professionals can help assess the lighting needs in your home to choose the best paint color for your unique space.
Heating Costs
It’s probably no surprise that choosing colors that capitalize on natural light will result in lower energy costs for your home. The right interior painting choices could help brighten even the darkness rooms and cut down on lamps and overhead lighting usage throughout the year.
What you may not know, however, is that the right type of paint could also help you cut down on the cost of heating your home.
You might be familiar with this uncomfortable experience: It’s a hot summer day and your outfit of choice is all black. While you won’t have to worry about stains, your chic black-on-black look probably has you sweating like mad.
If you remember back to grade-school science, you’ll probably recall that dark colors absorb light, which also means they absorb heat. The same effect you see with dark clothes on a hot day is what you’ll experience with dark paint colors.
Exactly how you want to choose colors for heat absorption or reflection will depend on the climate of your particular region. If you’re in a warmer climate, you may find that a lighter exterior home or roof color helps to shave off some of your cooling costs.
If you’re located in a colder climate, you may benefit from darker colors that absorb heat and lower heating costs. Consider painting your den or living room a darker color to help lock in heat in the warmer months and capitalize on sunlight that enters through windows.
You may even opt for a slightly dark shade for the exterior of your home as well for added heat retention.
Whether your next home renovation project is cabinet refinishing, an exterior home painting job, or a service cost estimate, ELCO Painting is the perfect choice for painting companies in RI and Southeastern Massachusetts. Let our experienced professionals meet your home’s unique needs and help bring your design dreams to life, while making the planet a little greener.
Give us a call (401-295-2201) or contact us online today to see how the ELCO Painting difference can work for you.
