How to Increase Energy Efficiency with Replacement Triple Pane Windows | Fort Worth, TX

How to Increase Energy Efficiency with Replacement Triple Pane Windows | Fort Worth, TX

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On hot summer days in Fort Worth, TX, air conditioning is essential. When Fort Worth is at its hottest in July, with temperatures regularly exceeding 100°F, air conditioning is a matter of public health. It takes a lot of energy to cool an entire house, however, and without energy efficient windows, a large portion of your energy use may be going out the window. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, heat gained or lost through windows may account for 25%-30% of energy use in residential heating environments. Energy efficient windows are an effective way to mitigate heat gain/loss, reduce energy consumption, and lower your monthly energy bills. Ahead, learn how to improve the efficiency of your existing windows or select energy efficient replacements for your home.

Enhance Existing Windows

If your current windows are well-constructed and in good shape, you may be able to improve their efficiency by making a few modifications. If you suspect air leakage, perform a visual window inspection indoors and outdoors. Outside, examine the caulking around the windows for cracks and gaps. Inside, check to see whether daylight is visible around the window frame. For windows that are more than 15 years old, check to see whether the frames are bowed or bent, as this can create areas for air infiltration. If you find evidence of air leaks, you can hire professionals to perform an energy audit on your home. An energy audit may include the blower door test, which uses a large fan to lower the air pressure of the home’s interior, causing the higher pressure air from outside to flow inside via cracks. This helps energy technicians gauge a home’s air infiltration rate and give recommendations on how to reduce air leakage.

With cases of moderate air leakage, you may simply need to update your current windows. You could hire professionals to weather-strip your windows or add storm windows. You can also install window coverings inside and outside of the home. Window films and insulated cellular shades provide effective insulation inside the home, while exterior blinds and awnings can prevent unwanted air temperatures from seeping into the home.

Replacing Old Windows

Important Energy Performance Metrics

Simple upgrades may not be enough to limit your home’s energy consumption. If you’re in the market for energy efficient replacement windows, you should consider double and triple pane windows, which greatly increase energy efficiency. First, however, you should familiarize yourself with some important efficiency measures.

U-Factor

The U-Factor measures the quantity of heat that can escape a building through windows, which means that it assesses its basic insulating properties. U-Factors usually fall on a scale between 0 and 1, with lower numbers representing superior insulating performance.

Solar Heat Gain Coefficient

The Solar heat gain coefficient, or SHGC, measures the window’s ability to block sunlight. As with the U-Factor, a SHGC measurement will be between 0 and 1, with lower numbers indicating greater quantities of blocked sunlight heat.

Air Leakage

For peak energy efficiency, you want your windows to leak as little air as possible. Air leakage measurements typically fall between 0.1 and 0.3. Air leakage decreases as the numbers decrease.

Visible Transmittance

Visible transmittance, or VT, measures how much visible light is able to pass through a window. The less light that passes through, the better the window is at insulating the home. Like many of the other metrics, VT measurements fall on a scale of 0 to 1, with lower numbers representing lower light transmittance.

Double Pane Windows

With double pane windows, the two panes are separated by a slim, air-filled space. Sometimes the space is filled with a gas, like Argon, to maximize insulation. By adding a second barrier to heat loss, these windows help to minimize heat transfer and mitigate thermal conductivity. The glass panes usually have the same thickness, but window units are occasionally constructed with different thicknesses for specific applications, including acoustics and security.

Triple Pane Windows

As with double pane options, triple pane windows use multiple glass panes to enhance energy efficiency. Triple pane windows are also notable for their ability to reduce unwanted sounds and resist condensation. When a third pane is added to a unit, the window’s U Factor, which measures its heat flow resistance, can improve by more than 50%. This is partly due to the additional pane of glass, which acts as another layer of insulation against heat.

Triple pane windows also feature technology that optimizes this added insulation. For example, each pane is covered in a thin layer of Low-E coating, which protects against heat loss and light transmittance. Passive Low-E coatings, which fuse the coating to the hot glass surface, and solar control Low-E coatings, which apply the coating to pre-cut glass in a vacuum chamber, both decrease solar emissivity and boost solar control.

The added pane in triple pane windows also creates more cavities for air or Argon gas. This gas, which is denser than air, augments thermal insulation, especially when paired with Low-E coated glass and triple pane windows. This combination helps to stabilize the window temperature, which reduces the air drafts that arise when different temperatures collide. This airspace has another benefit; it helps to minimize noise. By creating a barrier to sound transmission, these windows don’t just protect your home from heat loss. Triple pane windows also protect you from the intrusive sounds of traffic, construction, and lawn mowers.

Selecting New Windows Today

With the help of the professional team at Energy Window Solutions, homeowners in Fort Worth, TX, can select the right energy efficient replacement windows for their home. Whether you opt for triple pane windows to block out the Fort Worth heat or the efficient double pane alternatives, you won’t be disappointed. Call today to learn more about your options!