So apparently my flat faces west, something I only noticed recently as days’ve been getting hotter. I’ve kept my windows open for weeks now, and in the morning it’s always nice and cool to wake up, and even when I get back home for lunch… But then when I get out of work and arrive home in the evening, it’s a whole different story.
I made this painful realization just the other day, and today I’m seeing it in action for myself. I got the feeling that it was suddenly getting really hot about an hour or two ago, and I figured the sun was getting on the side of my windows. Let the blinds down, closed the windows and hoped those double layers would provide some insulation against the heavenly fire.
Well, no. I mean, yes and no. The window works all right, but by this point the wall itself is warm. The inside of it. Good to know the nation likely most high-tech on the planet still doesn’t know how to use insulation except for in regions where you’d be bound to freeze to death without it. Apparently the mere unpleasant fact that you sweat your ass off in the summer heat and are forced to wrap yourself into five layers and hide under the kotatsu just so that you won’t be cold isn’t worth the investment of putting some insulation in the damn walls.
Then they whine about electricity bills caused by the ACs running 24/7.
Insulation isn’t much use in your situation, what you need is shade, or a reflective outside surface, silver is best followed by white then other pastel shades.
If you study Europe, you will see that nearly every building has shutters over their windows, the secret is to keep the heat off the windows.
If you want to benefit from insulation, again you need the insulation on the outside of the frame, to avoid conduction. Check it out, leave insulation in the sun, and it warms right through.