Windows

The placement, quantity and type of windows you have will significantly affect energy usage in your home. Easy window additions, such as solar screens, can go a long way toward saving you energy and making your home feel more comfortable.

The placement, quantity and type of windows you have will significantly affect energy usage in your home. Ordinary single-pane clear windows are poor insulators and allow heat from the sun to transfer into a house. This causes the temperature inside a house to rise, which causes air conditioning systems to work harder to remove heat.

During the winter, heat naturally moves through windows from inside the heated space to the outside by conduction, convection and radiation.

The following are the minimum recommended levels of treatment for windows to maintain energy efficiency:

• Single-pane tinted windows with a shading coefficient (SC) of .87 or better
• Double-pane insulated glass (clear or tinted)
• Double-pane tinted Low E windows

 

Adding reflective film or solar screens to existing windows can go a long way toward saving energy and making your home feel more comfortable. Make sure to target windows on the west and east sides of your home, where most of the solar heat gain occurs. Adding these materials to windows with eastern or western exposure can dramatically reduce annual cooling costs.

Solar screens are more effective than reflective solar film because screens stop the solar heat before it gets into your home. Solar film is applied to the inside of the window, causing the window to heat up before the radiant heat is reflected back outside. You can remove solar screens during the winter to allow natural solar heating to warm your home.

Some neighborhoods have deed restrictions regarding solar screens and reflective film, so check with your homeowners’ association before starting this project.