My wife has been asking me to look into buying awnings to put over the windows of our house.  I’ve been putting it off.  I can’t really say why I’ve been putting it off; I think maybe it’s one of those “if the wife suggests it, then it must be stupid” ideas that I keep in my head.  But now a few friends have been telling me that they have put awnings over their windows and that it has made a tremendous difference in how much cooler it keeps their house, and how much money it is saving on their air conditioning costs.  So, now I’m starting to think maybe it is something we really should look into doing.  After all, saving money is a good idea, and using less electricity is good for the environment.  I wonder if we can get a tax credit for installing awnings?