I'll start out by saying that I don't like window shutters on new houses. They're completely non-functional, and many times the color choices are just.. wrong.

But what if they were made to be both decorative and functional?

Windows are one of the biggest sources of heat loss in a house. Many people put sheets of plastic over their windows as part of their winter preparation routine, which helps, but the windows are still cold to the touch.. which means it's still cooling the house down and you're still losing energy and money.

What I'm suggesting is a shutter system that folds out and over the window, creating an air-tight seal over the window. The shutters would look like traditional shutters, but would be solid rather than slatted (maybe a solid design with a slat pattern), and would have a core made of foam or some other insulating material. The shutters could be programmed or controlled manually to close at night and open again in the morning, providing no loss of light, and adding an extra insulating layer to the window during the coldest periods of the night.

The shutters would be multi-layered and hinged to be able to open up and cover the entire window. And this action would once again be automatic, with no human interaction required except to manually override the shutters by pressing a button.

In the summer the shutters could be swapped out for a "summer model" that was transparent and filtered out ultraviolet and infrared light which would prevent homes from heating up as much from sunlight coming in through the windows.

Maybe. Ideas?