I live in Southern California where it gets pretty hot in the summer.  Granted it is not as hot as many other states but So-Cal homes rarely have air conditioning.  Nor do they usually have central heating so during those bitter winters (joke) our poorly insulated homes can be a little uncomfortable, but I digress.

I, like many Americans these days, are looking to save money on energy wherever I can. I know of a lot of people who are simply keeping their blinds or shades shut all day to minimize heat gain from the sun.  Don't overlook what the right window treatments can do to keep your home cool during the hot summer.  They will also help to keep your home warmer in the winter.  Think of window treatments as a long term investment that will pay off over time, like adding double pane windows. 

But before I extol the virtue of insulating blinds, you might want to attend to your windows and check to see how well sealed they are.  If your home has the old-style windows with panes they often are a significant source of draft and therefore heat loss, or heat gain.  So, purchasing new shades or blinds would be like buying a new super-efficient refrigerator and leaving the door ajar all the time.

There are many insulating window treatments available, the best of which are cellular shades, also know as honeycomb shades.  The design of cell shades creates an insulating air pocket, or cell.  You can purchase these shades with single, double and triple cell, depending on how much insulation you want to add to your window.  The price goes up with more cells.  Cell shades are a pleated shade, I am sure you've seen them.  But don't confuse cell shades with pleated shades which have a nearly identical look but don't have the same insulating property.

Since you may not want your shades drawn all the time, you may want to consider layering your window treatments.  Here's an idea that can give you the best of both worlds.  You can use solar shades, which are made out of various light filtering, opaque materials but dramatically cut down on solar heat gain and UV damage to your furniture while preserving your views.  Then you can layer over the solar shades with cellular shades which can be drawn during the hot part of the day.  Cell shades also come with an optional top down, bottom up feature that can allow you to still let in limited amounts of light if you aren't into the whole cave dweller lifestyle during the daytime.  Please note that solar shades do not offer privacy!  People can see into your home as well as you can see out of it. 

There are other window treatments that offer insulation albeit not quite as efficiently as cell shades.  But maybe they don't really "float your boat" from a design standpoint.  In that case you can look for insulating roman shades, drapes with a liner and even plantation shutters, especially the composite or vinyl varieties.  Composite plantation shutters and vinyl shutters offers decent insulation mostly due to the fact that they are substantial.     

I realize that it might not seem to make sense to spend money to save money but we, as consumers, do this with all kinds of purchases.  People these days are flocking to buy hybrid cars, adding insulation to their homes, purchasing double pane windows, solar systems, geothermal heat pumps, energy efficient appliances and much more.  The pay off on any of these purchases happens over the years.  The point is the right window treatments is no different from these types of energy saving products and deserves consideration.