The Department of Energy reports that up to 50% of your home’s heating and cooling are lost through your windows. Fortunately, recent technologies have allowed windows to be more resistant to heat flow, cutting down a huge chunk of the wasted energy spent on dissipated heat. How do they do it? Let our professionals at Renewal by Andersen® of Houston walk you through the genius of modern windows.
Understanding the Terms
There will be some technical jargon in this discussion, so it helps to understand a few of the terms before we continue.
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Thermal envelope. Also called the building’s envelope, this pertains to how the interior of your home is separated from the outdoors with insulation.
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Low-E glass. Low emissivity or low-E glass is specialized glass used in window replacement nationwide. They have a thin coating that allows them to reflect much of the sun’s heat back into the environment and away from your home.
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R-value. A window’s R-value is a measure of its resistance to heat flow. Windows with higher R-values are considered better insulators. Conversely, you may also encounter U-values, which is a measure of a window’s conductivity. To avoid confusion, we will stick to R-values.
Gas Fills
Through the years, windows have evolved to fit the landscape of an ever-increasing need for energy efficiency. One such innovation is the use of gas fills for double- or triple-pane windows. Most windows today are made with two layers of glass separated by quarter inch of space. This space is often filled with gases with high R-values, such as argon and krypton.
Argon and krypton are colorless, odorless, tasteless and completely harmless noble gases. These gases are inert, meaning they don’t react much or at all to energy, including heat energy, hence the high R-values.
Energy Efficiency
You want your heating and cooling to remain within the thermal envelope of your home. This means your home must be sealed and insulated from the outdoors as much as possible. You can see how this can be a problem when it comes to windows.
Renewal by Andersen of Houston offers different window types like casement windows and double hung windows. But no matter what type of window you choose, you can be sure that we only use high-quality, low-E glass with adequate R-values to meet your home’s needs.
Call us today (281) 547-6177, and ask us about our ENERGY STAR®-certified windows. We serve Houston, TX, and nearby areas.
