Energy Efficient Windows and Doors - Are They Worth It? - By: Graham Tasker, Posted on: 2007-08-11

It's a fact that your house leaks most of its heat through its windows. Poor seals on cheap windows allow drafts to intrude which lead you to turn the heating higher. It's also true that common or garden glass is not a particularly good insulator. Ok, you probably know a lot of this already but the problem is you balk at the price of energy-efficient windows, right? What you have to bear in mind is that the right windows can reduce your house's energy usage by up to 25 per cent.

The US Federal Government certainly wants to encourage you to install energy-saving windows by offering you as a home owner a tax credit to cover 10 per cent of the windows' price up to a limit of $500 per year. So you can see that this is effectively a discount on the purchase price making energy-saving windows and doors much more affordable - and don't forget to factor in the reduced energy bills you'll enjoy too. This particular tax credit is called the Existing Home Tax Credit for Fenestration and covers windows installed from 31st December 2005 to 1st January 2008.

There's an organization that has come up with a rating system to work out the energy efficiency of windows. It is the National Fenestration Rating Council or NFRC. Its' rating systems are the U-Factor which determines how good your windows are at retaining the heat in your home (the lower this rating, the better) and the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient which measures how the windows help to keep the house cool (again, the lower the rating the better). If you want to qualify for the Federal Government tax credit you need to install products that have been rated by this organization. You'll need to submit a copy of your receipt as proof of purchase along with the product's NFRC sticker.

What should you look for in a window, besides an Energy Star rating? The market supplies many choices, but here are some guidelines.

First, most insulating windows are made with two, or sometimes three, panes of glass. The manufacturer often fills the space between the panes with an insulating inert gas such as argon or krypton.

A lot of window manufacturers will also put a reflective coating on the glass to help it achieve lower U-Factor ratings. Another benefit of this treatment is that it will often help to filter out potentially harmful UV radiation. Not only is this UV radiation potentially damaging to you, it can also lead to fading the color of your furniture, so there's clearly a benefit if the product you're thinking of purchasing has a UV filter on it.

Finally, good windows have a tight seal that you should be able to feel when you open and close them in the showroom. Try it out. Repeatedly. Compare the cheap windows to the more expensive ones. With practice, you should be able to tell a well-sealed window from a badly sealed one. Only the seal on your refrigerator door should be better.

When you factor in the Government tax break and assume a minimum saving of ten per cent on your current heating bills, can you really afford not to replace your old, non-energy-efficient windows?

Article Source: http://www.southerncaliforniarealestateagent.com/submit-real-estate-articles

If you're looking for some energy conservation technique advice then Graham Tasker, the Webmaster of Green Home Website at www.greenhome.no1-source.com has plenty that you'll find interesting and informative.
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