Solar Screen Shades and Building Automation are a Profit Team
Our dealers can expect to see more solar screen shades and more specifically “green” fabrics being specified. There is greater interest with each year in designing and retrofitting commercial and residential buildings to use less energy, with cooling costs topping the list of areas for improvement. Our high performance fabrics offer the best heat reduction available today, and we make it a point to stay on top of the technology being developed by textile companies to increase performance to even higher performance levels. When paired with building automation systems, the energy benefits are even greater, which is why we cover motorization and automation topics in our regular regional and Colorado dealer training seminars. We want to help our dealers increase their knowledge in these areas so that they can be more competitive and profitable now and as the technology grows.
Although green construction has a higher cost initially, it is expected that the lowered annual operating costs of a green constructed building pay back the investment over 7 years for a new building, and 4 years for a retrofit. This payback, along with the increased value of a green building as an asset, as well as the social and environmental implications can only continue to generate growth and opportunities for Insolroll dealers. We’re excited to be a part of the process with our dealers, and excited to provide green options for commercial and residential customers, who continue to tell us how much they love the quality and performance of the Insolroll product.
According to McGraw-Hill Construction’s 2013 World Green Building Trends SmartMarket Report, there is good news for manufacturers like Insolroll who develop and offer “Green”window treatments both commercially and residentially. Based on survey respondents, we can expect to see a 10% growth in our category of Green Building Products Used between 2012 and 2017. Not only is the Furnishings category expected to increase- the Building Automation Systems category is expected to grow by 5% in that period. 56% of firms queried reported that improved health and well-being benefits for occupants were the top social reason for building green, and 78% said that energy efficiency and savings were the top environmental reason.
At Insolroll, we’ve been on this message for many years, and we continue to innovate and develop our product line to address this trend. Solar screen shades are “green” in two ways: first, in terms of energy efficiency and reduction of usage, and second, in terms of the environmentally friendly content of our fabric collection.