Did you know? Window films have been endorsed by many utility companies across the nation. Many utility companies are now even offering a rebate for the installation of window films on commercial buildings by as much as 50%. Window films save energy and lower carbon footprint – something of great interest to utility companies struggling to keep up with consumer demand. One of the major window film companies endorsed by utility providers is 3M.

Major cities like Boston and Washington DC have been mandating that large commercial buildings lower their carbon footprint. This new legislation is pushing property owners and managers to look for novel ways to reduce energy consumption to meet the new carbon footprint guidelines. One of these novel ways is installing window films on their commercial buildings. Essentially, utility companies are finding that it is more cost-effective to help commercial customers find ways to lower their energy consumption than it is to keep generating more and more energy to meet the demand. Utility companies generally offer two types of window film rebates, prescriptive and custom.

Prescriptive Window Film Rebates

Prescriptive window film rebates give the buyer back a fixed price per square foot of window film installed. This rebate can range from $.45 per square foot to as much as $2.00 per square foot depending on the area. This type of rebate is helpful because the buyer can easily calculate for themselves exactly how much will be rebated and thus know how much to expect in return for their investment in window film for their commercial building.

Custom Window Film Rebates

Custom window film rebates are a little trickier to calculate but are the most common type of rebate offered. This type of rebate is based on the evaluated effect window film installation will have on a commercial building. 3M uses a software program called EFILM that uses the Department of Energy’s Energy Plus to model a building. The model is evaluated before and after window films to estimate the impact window film installation will have. The difference in energy savings from the before and after evaluation is multiplied by the unit cost of energy to determine the energy savings per year. Then the utility company reviews this data for accuracy and issues a commitment letter stating the rebate amount the buyer can expect. The 3M window film provider will gather the data and provide this estimate at no obligation and no cost to the building owner.

If you own or manage a commercial building and want to explore what rebates and rebate types are available in your area, simply visit https://www.dsireusa.org/ and enter your information to find rebate programs near you. We can all help lower our carbon footprint for a more sustainable future. Utility rebates can help owners and managers of commercial buildings do just that. For more information on commercial window films, please contact us at Carolina Solar!