Actually shutters are very thermally inefficient. Blinds, drapes and such are much better. So what you are saying about AC isn't accurate.
I'm talking about exterior shutters or blinds.
Close them and the sun radiation doesn't get in. The heat behind them doesn't get in either because you have double paned glass keeping it out.
Also great to sleep with windows open.
Cleaning shutters? Huh?? Do Americans even know what shutters are and how they function?
I would imagine most modern homes with working shutters still have some kind of inside window coverings.
yes there are curtains inside, but they're for privacy, decoration, sound dampening and for total blacking out.
lol great website
A lot of houses here have it too, even my parents'. It's just a decorative thing. If you notice even if they did swing they would not even cover the entire surface of the window. Basically a useless decoration lol.
the fact that they couldn't cover the window even if they could swing is what gets me.
I always thought some kind actual usable shutter system could very well be useful though for summer or in case of storm. But given that's only a few months of the year not really worth building a system just for that.
this is likely why in northern europe houses don't have shutters, they're probably not needed except for a few days a year.
In central europe the shutters are mostly used for sleeping and not having sun in your eyes in particular situations outside of the summer, the heat stuff applies 2.5 months per year mostly. In southern europe this is quite longer though I think.
In central and southern europe non-north facing big/normal windows without external shutters do not exist.
Though a simpler solution would be some kind of fixed awning that is just the right size so that it lets sun in only in winter.
this is actually a concept in passive or energy-efficient house construction. The winter sun in central europe does heat the house quite a bit if it can radiate into the house through windows and the summer/winter angle difference is significant.
Another neat trick is having trees that lose their leaves in front of the house: lots of sun on the house in the winter, no sun in the summer.