Hi - there seems to be something awry for me with the notification of replies function, so I didn't realize some of these helpful comments are here. I wasn't familiar with the term shadecloth, but looking here:
http://www.shadeclothstore.com/default.aspxI would characterize the material I have been using as a (seemingly) particularly effective shadecloth that accomplishes (better than one other "shadecloth" I've tried) the dual task of allowing a lot of natural light in, but keeping the worst of the heating aspect out. However, since I've only tried one other material, I don't really know with certainty if the main material I like
http://solarthermalfabrics.comis better than the other ones at the shadecloth store.
My main use here, for more than a decade, is on the roof, on a 4 foot by 4 foot glass overhead skylight in a partially-underground hobbit type house. If I didn't have something on the outside against the Arizona sun, then in summer the room would be unbearable .... perhaps even to the point where any equipment in the room over time might be subject to damage. If I just draw the blind on the interior of the skylight (I do have a blind there) then the room becomes dark and dreary (and may be trapping the heat in a way that is not smart). With this particular outside material that I mentioned, the room once again becomes arguably the best room in the house, since it welcomes the light, but repels those aspects of the sunlight which cause the worst of the heat. I wonder if, in the shadecloth business, there is a particular numerical measure of this combination, and one could compare.
I haven't had that much communication with others about their solutions, and am not very handy, so I am not that knowledgeable about solutions that may be obvious to others. This particular use of the material in a sense seems to my limited knowledge to be in a situation where not just any shadecloth will do, as the direct overheard sun provides a real test, but when you're partially underground, you don't want to give away that valuable visible sunlight which helps make living in the house to be enjoyable.