types of shades: roller, pleated, bamboo, wood...

Roller shades, roman shades, bamboo and other wood shades, pleated shades... Shade types vary widely, with some different impacts in terms of energy savings and air conditioning costs reducing.

Roller shades

Roller shades are an increasingly popular type of shades, based on a pull-down rolling type system. There are wooden roller shades, but most are fabric shades, with rugged steel rollers, allowing an easy installation and several custom options.

Blackout and transparent roller exterior shades are between the best in terms of energy efficiency.

See: Blackout shades and Transparent shades

Bamboo and other woven-wood shades

Slats of natural materials can be woven together with string or other decorative materials to make wood and bamboo shades.

The energy efficiency of bamboo and other wood shades is moderate, but they allow good light control and are a good economical alternative to shutters.

Pleated or cellular shades

Pleated or cellular shades are made from two or three cell pleated shades, containing dead air spaces. Their insulating value is reasonable or high, but their effectiveness to control temperatures is moderate.

For greater insulation value, cellular shades may involve double and triple cells (the more cells, the higher the energy efficiency).

Roman window shades

Roman window shades are a very popular type of interior shades, mainly due to aesthetics, and because they are easy to operate. They are usually made of soft drapery fabric and in some cases of woven wood.

Roman shades are usually raised or lowered like a blind, and are excellent to create privacy and to control light. They involve options like top-down/bottom up or continuous cord loop... They offer moderate energy efficiency either in terms of cooling and insulation.