Summer is right around the corner, and the last thing a homeowner wants to deal with during the season is excessive heat inside their home. The same goes for extreme cold during the winter! Basically, keeping your home a comfortable temperature without racking up a giant energy bill is the ideal situation, right? That’s why we recommend installing energy efficient replacement windows in your home.
If you are an energy-conscious homeowner who wants to minimize the cost of heating and cooling your home, choosing the right replacement windows can make a huge difference. When choosing energy efficient replacement windows, there are four main factors to consider: frame, glass, design, and installation.
At Archway, we provide replacement windows from Alside, which was recently recognized by Energy Star for their excellence in energy efficiency for the third year in a row. The award is based on two distinct elements: U-Factor and SHGC. The U-Factor (also referred to as U-Value) represents the window’s resistance to heat flow, and a lower U-Factor means the better the quality of insulation. A low U-Factor helps reduce the consumption of fuel for heating during the colder months. Conversely, SHGC represents the window’s capability to prevent solar heat from coming into the home during the warmer months. If the SHGC is lower, you will conserve more on air-conditioning.
Since a window is made up of 80% glass, the type of glass you choose for your replacement windows has a direct effect on its energy efficiency. We recommend choosing a dual-pane or triple-pane Low-E insulated glass solution that was designed to meet those strict ENERGY STAR® requirements. Low-E (low-emissivity) glass features a virtually clear metallic coating that allows warm solar rays to enter your home in the winter and help reduce heating costs. In the summer, Low-E glass helps block solar heat to keep your home cooler and reduce air-conditioning usage. Low-E also helps minimize UV rays that can cause furniture to fade.
Once you have installed your energy efficient windows, you should expect to save a few hundred dollars per year on your heating and cooling bills. That may not seem like much compared to the cost of the windows, however it will add up over the years. The windows we offer to our customers are also some of the best quality windows you can find on the market today, and come with a lifetime warranty so you can count on them to last.
If you are interested in getting high-quality, warranty-backed energy efficient replacement windows, please contact us today!