How Solar Screens Cut Heat and Cooling Bills in New Orleans, LA

A solar screen is a tightly woven mesh panel fitted over the outside of a window, sized to stop a large share of the sun’s energy before it ever touches the glass. A curtain or a blind works after the heat is already indoors. A solar screen intercepts sunlight outside the house, which is a different job entirely, and it is the reason screens keep earning their place in a climate that runs the air conditioning most of the year.

Air conditioning accounts for 19% of all the electricity used in American homes, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That load is not spread evenly across the country. The EIA’s 2020 residential survey put the South at the top for air conditioning, with 93% of households running it, and Southern homes consume more electricity than homes in any other region.

At Big Easy Gates, we fit solar screens on houses, offices, and storefronts around the New Orleans metro. The same pattern shows up on most estimates we write: a west-facing room that stays warm until dark, flooring and upholstery fading in a band near the window, and a thermostat that never quite catches up in August.

If your cooling bill climbs every summer and one side of the house always runs hotter than the rest, contact us for a free estimate.

What follows is how the screens do the work, what the numbers printed on the mesh actually mean, and how to decide which windows are worth covering first.

What Are Solar Screens and How Do They Lower Cooling Costs?

A solar screen looks a little like an insect screen and behaves nothing like one. The mesh is thicker, darker, and woven far more densely, usually from vinyl-coated polyester. It mounts on the exterior of the window opening, so sunlight hits the mesh first and the glass second.

That order matters more than most people expect. Once sunlight passes through glass and lands on a floor, a wall, or a sofa, it stops being light and becomes heat inside your house. At that point your air conditioner has to remove it. Anything that stops the energy outdoors never becomes a cooling load in the first place.

Interior blinds and curtains do reduce glare and they do help. They simply work on the wrong side of the glass. The sun has already delivered its energy into the room by the time a blind reflects any of it, and a closed blind on a sunny window gets warm to the touch for exactly that reason.

The savings, then, come from subtraction rather than from any clever technology. Cover the windows that take the worst sun, remove a meaningful share of the energy arriving through them, and the equipment runs less to hold the same temperature. Our solar screen installation service covers both fixed and retractable options, and the assessment always starts with which windows are actually causing the problem.

How Do Solar Screens Actually Block Heat?

The mechanism is simple, but the product choices underneath it are where results are won or lost. Three things decide how a screen performs.

Stopping sunlight before it reaches the glass

Exterior mounting is the whole point. The mesh absorbs and scatters solar energy out in the open air, where moving air carries most of it away instead of trapping it against the window. Move that identical fabric to the inside of the same window and its effect drops sharply, because whatever it absorbs is now warming the room.

This is also why a screen keeps working on whatever windows you already have. It is fitted to the opening, it does not touch the glass, and it makes no demands on what is behind it.

Openness factor and how much you still see

Screen mesh is graded by openness factor, which is the percentage of the fabric that is open space rather than fiber. A 10% openness screen is 90% solid, blocks the most sun, and gives you the least view. A 5% openness screen blocks more still. Go the other way toward 20% and you keep more of the view and more of the daylight, and you give back some of the heat reduction.

Manufacturers publish these figures. Phifer, one of the larger screening makers, states that its SunTex 80/90 range “blocks 80-90% of the sun’s heat and glare,” and the two numbers in the name correspond to those two grades. Those percentages are the honest way to compare products, and any quote you receive should tell you which grade is being installed.

Mesh density, glare, and fading

Heat is only part of what a dense screen removes. The same mesh cuts glare on screens and televisions, which is often the complaint that finally prompts the call, and it reduces the ultraviolet light that fades hardwood, rugs, and upholstery over a few summers.

Color changes the balance too. Darker mesh reads as more transparent from inside because it reflects less light back at you, so a dark screen usually preserves the view better than a light one at the same openness. Lighter mesh bounces more energy away on the outside but can look cloudy from within.

Why Do Solar Screens Matter So Much in New Orleans?

Long cooling seasons change the arithmetic. A measure that trims a modest share off a cooling load pays back slowly in a place that needs air conditioning for three months of the year, and much faster in a place that needs it for most of them.

The housing stock here sharpens the point. The EIA’s 2020 survey found that nationally, 83% of homes built before 1950 used air conditioning against 93% of homes built between 2010 and 2020. Newer homes almost always run more air conditioning than old ones. The one exception in the entire survey was the hot-humid region of the southeastern United States, where that gap essentially disappeared, because the heat there does not care how old your house is.

That describes a great deal of this metro. Older shotgun houses, doubles, and raised center-hall homes have deep porches and tall windows that were designed for shade and cross-ventilation, and many now carry air conditioning that was added long after the walls went up. Tall windows are wonderful. They also collect a lot of afternoon sun.

The wider trend runs the same direction. Nationally, 89% of homes used air conditioning in 2020 against 57% in 1980, and central systems climbed from 27% of homes to 67% over the same period. More cooling equipment in more houses means the energy arriving through the glass matters more than it used to.

Every neighborhood sits differently. Lot orientation, mature oaks, and how close the next roofline sits all decide which windows take the beating, which is why we look at the actual house rather than quoting from a floor plan. We cover the city and the surrounding parishes, including Metairie and the neighboring service areas.

How Should You Choose Solar Screens for Your Home?

Screening every window is rarely the right answer, and it is rarely the cheapest one. A good specification covers the openings that are costing you something and leaves the rest alone.

Window orientation and which sides matter most

West-facing glass is almost always first. It takes the sun at the hottest part of the day, when outdoor temperatures have already peaked and the cooling system is working hardest. South-facing windows come next, taking a longer but less punishing exposure across the middle of the day.

East-facing glass warms early and then releases. North-facing windows receive very little direct sun in this hemisphere and seldom justify the cost, unless glare or fading is the real complaint rather than heat.

Fixed panels against retractable screens

Fixed panels sit in the opening for the season, or year-round, and cost less per window. They suit the openings you have already decided run too hot, where the view is a secondary concern.

Retractable screens roll away when you want the full window back, which makes them a better fit for a picture window, a patio door, or a room you use differently in January than in July. They also work well over outdoor spaces, and they pair naturally with a screened porch enclosure when the goal is a usable shaded room rather than a shaded window.

Frame fit on older window openings

Older openings in this city are frequently out of square, and a screen frame cut to a nominal size will show daylight down one edge. Every panel should be measured individually on site, not ordered from a single dimension repeated across the elevation.

Fit affects performance as well as looks. A gap at the top of a panel lets sun bypass the mesh entirely and defeats the purpose of covering that window at all.

Where New Orleans Homeowners Should Start

The energy numbers point the same way every year. Cooling is one of the largest electrical loads in a Southern home, the South runs more air conditioning than any other region, and in this climate the age of the house does not spare anyone from it. Reducing what arrives through the glass is one of the few improvements that works on the building you already own, without touching the windows themselves.

Start with a walk around the house on a hot afternoon. Note which rooms are uncomfortable, which floors have faded, and which side of the building the sun is on when the air conditioning stops keeping up. That short list is usually the specification, and it is normally a handful of windows rather than all of them.

When you are ready for a measured recommendation, Big Easy Gates will assess the openings, tell you which grade of mesh suits each one, and quote the work with no charge for the estimate. Call us today at (504) 547-6364.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do solar screens really lower an electricity bill?

They reduce the amount of solar energy entering through the windows they cover, and that reduction shows up as less work for the cooling system. How much you save depends on how many windows you screen, which direction they face, how much glass the house has, and how you run the thermostat. A few west-facing windows on a house with heavy afternoon exposure will make a more noticeable difference than the same screens on a shaded north elevation. Anyone quoting you a guaranteed figure without seeing the house is guessing.

Will I still be able to see out of the window?

Yes, though the view is dimmer and slightly softened. Openness factor is the number that governs this, and darker mesh generally preserves the view better than lighter mesh at the same grade. Most people find the adjustment takes a day or two and then goes unnoticed, particularly in rooms where glare on a television or a monitor was already a nuisance. If the view matters more than the heat in a particular room, a retractable screen gives you both at different times.

Can solar screens go on any window?

They can be fitted to most standard residential openings, including double-hung, casement, and picture windows, and to sliding and patio doors. The screen mounts to the exterior of the opening rather than to the glass, so the type of window behind it is not usually the deciding factor. Unusual shapes, arched tops, and openings that are badly out of square need measuring individually, which is normal on older properties here and not an obstacle.

How long do solar screens last?

Quality vinyl-coated polyester mesh is built to resist ultraviolet damage, mildew, and fading, which is what determines lifespan on an exterior product in this climate. The frame, the fixings, and the quality of the installation matter as much as the fabric. Screens left up through storm season, or fitted with light-duty hardware, will not last as well as screens properly mounted and taken down when a serious system is forecast.

Do solar screens need much maintenance?

Very little. Occasional washing with mild soap and water is the standard care for this kind of mesh, and it mostly exists to keep the fabric looking right rather than to keep it working. Check the fixings once a season and after high winds. If a panel is dented or a corner has pulled loose, refitting it early prevents a small problem from turning into a replacement panel.

Are solar screens better than interior blinds?

They do a different job, and for heat they do it in the right place. A blind or a curtain reflects light after it has already come through the glass and released its energy into the room, while an exterior screen removes a share of that energy before it arrives. Blinds still earn their keep for privacy, for room darkening, and for glare after dark. Many houses end up with both, and the two are not in competition.

Which windows should I screen first if I cannot do all of them?

West-facing windows, then south-facing ones. West glass takes the sun late in the day when the outdoor temperature is already at its highest and your equipment is under the most strain, so it usually delivers the most noticeable improvement per window. After that, prioritize the rooms you actually spend the afternoon in. There is rarely a good reason to screen a north-facing window for heat alone.

Do you install solar screens outside New Orleans itself?

Yes. We work across the metro area and the surrounding parishes, and we handle both residential and commercial properties. Estimates are free, and the visit is worth doing properly because the recommendation depends on how your specific house sits on its lot, what shades it, and which openings are genuinely causing the discomfort you are trying to fix.