Back To School With Window Film

Many school districts start classes toward the end of August. With record heat waves continuing, going back to school can mean going back to hot classrooms!

This may be the situation in your school district, since over 40 percent of public schools have underperforming heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC), and some within this group have no air conditioning at all, according to a report issued by the Federal government’s General Accounting Office in 2020.

A 2021 survey of K-12 educators found that half have concerns about classroom temperatures.
Trying to learn in a hot environment can be a challenge and it may also present health concerns for students that have asthma and other breathing difficulties. Children have been heard complaining about being unable to focus or becoming light-headed, sweaty and thirsty.

One way to help reduce the temperatures in classrooms with glass windows and the accompanying heat from the sun, is with window films.

Installed in less than a day, window films have the capability of blocking a significant amount of the sun’s solar heat gain, so window glass that normally absorbs the sun’s radiant energy and emits heat into the room from its interior surface can now reflect some of that heat outward, cooling the glass surface by several degrees.

The IWFA conservatively estimates that professionally installed window film may cut total annual energy use by 5-10 percent and prevent 60-80 percent of solar heat gain from passing through glass.

It’s never too late to have window film installed in schools, and the positive impact it makes by keeping interiors more comfortable will be felt for many school days to come.