San Antonio Radiant Barrier Non-Absorbing Insulation

When implemented in a hot, sunny climate like San Antonio alongside other energy-saving products like energy-efficient windows and attic insulation, a radiant barrier can help you save as much as 35% on your annual energy bills. It can even allow you to downsize to a smaller HVAC system. These substantial savings will more than pay for the cost of the radiant barrier.

Heating and cooling often account for over half of your San Antonio energy bills. Saving on those expenses adds up. Because radiant barriers are so effective at stabilizing your home’s temperature, you’re able to drastically reduce energy costs. While actual savings will vary, San Antonio homeowners save up to 35% per year on their bills.

Yes. Pure copper starts off at 98% reflective whereas pure aluminum starts off at 97%. Aluminum, copper, silver, and gold are the most heat reflective metals. Copper is more heat reflective than both aluminum and gold, so if you’re going to make a new radiant barrier more reflective, copper is the obvious choice. On top of that, Aluminum corrodes and oxidizes when exposed to water, or just high humidity, losing its reflective surface. This makes copper radiant barriers far more durable than aluminum radiant barriers.

Radiant barriers are most commonly installed on the roof rafters in the attic because the sun is likely to beat down on the surface of your roof and heat up your house. For people living in hot climates like San Antonio, radiant barrier can lower the temperature in your attic by as much as 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Blown-in insulation alone does not prevent radiant heat loss entirely, and it only slows down warm air escaping from your main living spaces into your attic. When you install a radiant barrier in your attic, it stops heat from escaping. This makes your home cozy and warm for less during the winter.

Radiant barrier on its own doesn’t have an R-value. R-value is used to classify traditional types of insulation and is a measure of how well the insulating material resists the conductive flow of heat. Green Energy Radiant Barrier™ works by blocking/reflecting heat rather than by absorbing it, as traditional insulation does.

Radiant barriers are the ultimate choice for home insulation in warmer climates like San Antonio. In cooler climates, the benefits of radiant barriers aren’t as noticeable. According to the, radiant barriers can reduce cooling costs by up to 35%  in a warm, sunny climate like San Antonio, TX. 

Radiant heat is the heat transferred from the sun onto individuals and objects. For instance, when your skin still feels hot after walking inside your home on a sunny day, this is a result of radiant heat from the sun.

Different materials have different degrees of reflectivity and heat transmission. Roofing materials like shingles, tar, and plywood absorb radiant heat generated from the sun, which is then passed through to the interior deck of your roof, which is typically made of plywood. Plywood emits roughly 82% of the heat it conducts, which then makes your attic hot. With a radiant barrier installed on the underside of your decking, only 3% of the heat your deck conducts will be passed through to your attic. In turn, your attic will be much cooler, and so will the rest of your home as a result.

Radiant barriers are not capable of damaging your shingles, as radiant barriers only increase the temperature of shingles by 2 to 5 degrees. Considering that roof shingles are anywhere from 150 to 190 degrees on a hot day, this small increase in temperature does not make enough of a difference to the point where it damages your shingles.

At Green Energy of San Antonio, we do not recommend performing DIY radiant barrier installation. Even the smallest mistake during radiant barrier installation can result in far less effective insulation. If you’re purchasing Green Energy radiant barriers we highly recommend letting our insulation installation experts handle it.

Radiant barriers provide additional insulation to your home in a different way than standard blown-in insulation. Where blown-in insulation absorbs heat, a radiant barrier reflects heat. The real energy savings and additional home cooling come when these 2 forms of insulation are combined. With both radiant barrier and blown-in insulation, the radiant barrier will block up to 97% of the heat transfer, and the blown-in insulation will absorb whatever wasn’t reflected by the radiant barrier. Talk about an energy-saving power couple!

Since radiant barriers are made out of thin sheets of copper, many people think this will affect the signals of mobile devices, computers, gaming consoles, and anything else that uses WiFi, Bluetooth, or LTE signals. This is not the case, as a radiant barrier is so thin that it will not affect any sort of wireless communication signal.