Energy Efficient Homes—Windows, Part III

Generally cold will come out of the north for most of the northern hemisphere. The cold coming down from the North Pole will penetrate the small cracks between the glass and the frame of even the best operating type windows. If personal preference is to have northern windows make them small and use the best insulating type thermal windows with sensor, Low-e coated glass, or argon technologies available. Some times it is not in a person’s budget or not feasible in cost savings to install the best insulating type thermal windows with the different technologies available throughout the home. At least install the better more energy efficient type thermal windows on the north side and reduce the northern cold air infiltration from the pressure that is exerted in the winter from the north.

South facing windows produce more heat gain in the winter. This is known as passive solar heat and will be expounded upon in a later section or chapter. As greater resistance technology is added to window upgrades the cost goes up substantially and it may not be worth the savings realized in the short run to make such an upgrade. However, if the windows in your home or the home you wish to purchase need to be replaced anyway it may be worth it to go for the higher cost argon filled and/ or Low-e coated glass windows to reduce your heat transfer and realize maximum savings. Your decision may be based on considerations of how long you expect to live in this home, or the resale value it may hold for the future as others become more conscious and aware of energy efficiency in homes.

Skylights are windows in the ceiling/ roof cavity and greatly reduce the overall performance of your attic/roof insulation. Most people would not have them if they realized how much heat comes in through them in the summertime and in the winter how much heat escapes compared to the benefits they offer. In some applications skylights are a must for egress, for light, and a source of fresh air. The skylights can affect an attic with an R-Value of R-38 and reduce it to an R-27 depending upon the surface area of the skylight glass in relationship to the area of insulated ceiling space.


Green house additions or solariums can be of added benefit in heat gain savings if they are closely monitored and designed properly. The room made of glass (thermal preferably) can have fast heat gains on sunny days. Conversely they also have the potential for fast heat loss during the night and on cloudy days. Devices should be installed to release heat gains that are too great and that close down to retain heat when temperatures drop too low. It is best for these monitoring and adjustment controls to be automatic. It is not practical or feasible to rely on humans to monitor conditions all the time—people go out, they take vacations, etc. It is best that a green house or solarium addition be designed so that it is confined away from the rest of the house for the above reasons, and more not yet discussed.

Copyright © 2006, Dennis Maq & Siti Crook, The Energy Efficient Home Team™

Energy Efficient Homes—Windows, PART II

Your windows may be 10% of your overall home energy loss and if you do not have a way to test your thermal envelope you may end up being another customer being taken advantage of by a good window salesperson. A blower door test will reveal how bad your windows are and how much they contribute to your energy losses and energy bills. An Energy Efficient Home Rater™ will perform a good blower door test. The results of the test will provide details concerning the amount of loss occurring through your windows and how much the installation of new windows will reduce your energy bills. The Energy Efficient Home Rater™ will also provide information about the length of time for “payback” if new windows are installed according to the level of technology built into the windows.

Windows lower the overall R-Value rating of any given wall and great strides have been taken to improve window R-Values over the past 20 years. There exists great potential for improving the use of glass as a means for gaining solar heat in a home for winter’s desired use while reflecting away such gain in the summer and at the same time increasing its R-Value against heat loss at night. It is believed that as technology continues to improve one day it will be possible to capture the best of all the desired benefits, it is only a matter of time before our needs and wants are met. At the present time the available benefits from the newly developed window technologies do not always warrant the additional costs.

How good are your present windows—Signs to look for:

· Are they tight and without drafts?

· Do you feel air movement by the windows when they are closed?

· Do your windows rattle or whistle when the wind blows?

· Do the windows have any cracks or pieces missing?

· Are they thermal windows? Thermal windows are preferable with two panes of glass with a thermal break of ¼ inch to no more than 1 inch spacing between the panes of glass.

· Are the windows made with just a single pane of glass or two (double) panes of glass?

To find out whether or not a window is made of one single pane of glass or two panes—put your hands on both sides of an open window and you will be able to feel how thick the glass is. If your hands seem to feel very close together (an1/8 of an inch or less) the window is probably a single pane of glass. If the glass seems to feel as if there is an air space between your fingers as you try to touch them together of a ¼ inch up to 1 inch then most likely the window is a thermal window. Also, if you look at the glass closely and you see a metal looking piece inside between the panes of glass it is probably a thermal window and the two panes of glass are fixed and should remain fixed. A thermal glass window R-2 has greater resistance to transferring heat and cool through it over a single pane glass window with an R-1, R-Value.


· Is the thermal window filled with argon gas?

A window with argon filled gas between two panes of glass has even a greater benefit than just air filled between two pieces of glass; and air filled between two pieces of glass is already a good insulator. Filling the gap between the glass panes with argon, a low-conductivity gas, will improve window performance by reducing conductive (“the distribution of heat or coolness through a material”) and convective (“natural: heat transferred through a medium, such as air or water, by current that result from the rising of lighter, warm air and the sinking of heavier cool air”) heat transfers. This phenomenon results from the fact that the density of the gas is greater than the density of air. The increased resistance created by argon filled gas between two panes of glass slows down the transfer of heat through the glass panes from the outside in or the inside out, depending upon the flow direction of the heat.

· Is the glass Low- e coated glass?

Low-e coating on glass was first introduced to the market two decades ago. Low-e coating, placed on the inside of the insulating glass unit, enables the sun's short-wave energy to enter the room and at the same time prevents internal warm air from leaving the room. The addition of low-e coating on glass makes the window glass an even better resister to heat transfer. Low-e coating on glass can be detected by holding a lit match up close to the window glass. If you see a reflection image of four matches it is low-e coated glass in a thermal two pane system. An easier way to find out if it is low-e coated glass is to look for a little label etched on or printed on the glass in the corners or on the thermal batten (the metal looking piece) between the two glass window panes. There are ETEKT Low-E coating detectors that when placed against glass and pressing a button can detect its presence.


· If the home you live in or want to buy has louver windows insist on having them replaced. They are almost the worst window for energy efficiency one can own.

· What are the locations of the windows? Windows at this time have a much lower
value than the surrounding wall system or ceiling windows—commonly referred to as skylights. As mentioned a single pane of glass has an R-value of R-1. A window that has two panes of glass with an air gap between them—a thermal window is R-2. A double pane thermal glass window with low-e glass coating has an R-value of R-3.5. The typical R-Value of an insulated wall is R-19.

· A step up from the louver window and single pane windows that are poorly
glazed or have no glazing, many loose fitting sashes, no weather stripping or gaskets, and no storm windows and the next worst for energy efficiency is the number of windows located on the north side of a home.

Energy Efficient Homes—Windows Part III will follow and conclude this segment on windows.

Copyright © 2006, Dennis Maq & Siti Crook, The Energy Efficient Home Team™

Energy Efficient Homes—Windows PART 1

Windows play an extremely important role in a home and they have both valuable benefits and negative characteristics. Starting with the positive benefits windows are the eyes of a home. One is able to look at the outside environment through a window and see what is going on without the need to leave the comfort of one’s home. Windows make it possible to let in warm rays of sun on a cold winter’s day. They also block the wind from blowing through and they prevent insects and other unwanted creatures from coming in, plus there are many more valuable benefits.

A negative characteristic of windows is that glass is not a strong resister to temperature radiating through it. A single pane of glass has an R-Value of R-1, compared to walls that built to present day code has an R-19 Value. When you average the two, window and wall in a ratio of wall to glass it reduces your overall efficiency in keeping out the cold in winter or keeping in the cool during the summer. By placing your hand close to the window you will feel the difference. In contrast during the summer the heat comes in through the glass and is trapped in the space you are trying to keep cool, similar to that of a greenhouse effect. Both of these negative characteristics amount to a higher cost to heat and or air condition the space. A perfect thermal package for a home would be a structure without any windows or doors which of course is impractical.

Through various technologies, improvements have been made to the insulating value of glass by layering (Thermal glass), applying films (low-e coatings), and adding gas (argon). All of these positively affect the R-value and increase it to an R-2 and a maximum of an R-3.5. An R-Value of 3.5 is far greater than R-1 and it is still far from a typical wall of R-19 or higher.

The cost to raise the R-Value in glass windows increases greatly with added technologies. However, due to increases in demand and productivity manufacturers have been able to curb the cost somewhat.

Windows are an area where many manufacture’s representatives boast claims of large savings as much as 50% off your heating bill by just installing their windows. A claim for huge savings of as much as 50% applies if you have the worst case scenario for windows, such as louver widows or single pane windows that do not have storm windows over them, each pane of glass having approximately an R-Value of R-1, are poorly glazed or have no glazing, many loose fitting sashes, no weather stripping or gaskets. To replace these inefficient windows with new thermal windows or better only increases the performance of the window, roughly to an R-Value of R-2, and it does not increase the performance of the whole house in the same ratio. Claims for large savings for replacement windows may then apply but the claim is not made conditional upon the poor or good insulation qualities that may or may not be present in your home’s thermal envelope which is integral to your home’s energy consumption that determines your actual cost. If a salesperson makes a claim for great savings ask them if they will guarantee it in writing and refund your money if the windows do not save you the claimed percentage.

Bottom line—Buyer Beware!

Copyright © 2006, Dennis Maq & Siti Crook, The Energy Efficient Home Team™

Tips For Buying An Energy Efficient Home- PART II

Some utility companies will perform an abbreviated version of the Energy Efficient Home Raters™ audit. Most utility companies upon request will provide information concerning the past usage/consumption of prior customers on an annual basis and sometimes they will break it down monthly. Either way this could be an ominous task and very expensive as you look at numerous homes that you may consider owning or living in. It is also important to note that information produced by a utility company is not considered valid certification of a home’s energy effficiency for mortgage lending purposes as is an Energy Efficient Home Raters™ audit.

When you ask a builder what is the most energy efficient thing you can do for a house they may mention the most obvious key factors: windows, doors, and insulation. The Energy Efficient Home Team™ has developed over the past 40 years this simple yet not so obvious list of items to look for. There are always exceptions and value added choices that one makes that may amount to pennies but add up to large amounts of dollars over time. The real keys to great energy efficiency in a home are all the little things that add up to being equal to the obvious things.

The following is a list of obvious things one needs to look for when purchasing a home. These are things your eyes should be able to catch immediately.

· Single pane double hung windows
· Metal sliding windows, single pane
· Louver Windows
· Buildings with crawl spaces under the floor verses a basement (neither being insulated)
· Block basement walls that have not been insulated
· Roofs in the winter where snow has quickly melted off
· Interior walls in the winter that feels cold to the touch
· Entry way doors that have no weather stripping attached to the door or jamb
· Lots of windows facing north
· Side by side double door refrigerators that are more than 15 years old
· Large boilers/heater systems that are more than 25 years old
· Electric baseboard heaters
· Fireplaces
· Recessed Light Fixtures (Can)
· Incandescent Light Bulbs- replace with Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) and save 4 times the energy over a regular incandescent light bulb.

Tips For Buying An Energy Efficient Home- Part I

If this is your first experience purchasing a home or your 10th you should familiarize yourself with the things you need to check if you are going to make a wise purchase and not a home that is an energy drain. If the seller or builder balks at your questions and is less than cooperative we recommended that you say—next and move on. The U.S. Department of Energy states that currently, in 2006, homes use greater than 20% of the energy consumed in the U.S. and of that 53% of the energy is from natural gas. If you are concerned about the price of gasoline for your car then you must also be concerned about the cost to heat and air condition your home. How far will you drive to a gas station that sells gasoline a few pennies cheaper than the station just down the corner?

How do you know if the house you own or the house you are considering purchasing is a good investment as to its energy efficient performance making it a place to live comfortably? How much is this house going to cost home heating and cooling per month or year at a satisfactory temperature? Could my money be better spent on more critical things in life other than home heating and cooling? Is there a way of finding the actual annual energy costs of a perspective new home other than living in it for a year before committing to such a major financial purchase? Yes, there is a way.

Energy Efficient Home Raters™ audits can be performed on a new home after it has been built and as it operates. The results of the audit will produce an estimated range for the cost of a home’s energy use and the exact cost will be determined by your personal use. $500 is the industry’s standard cost for an audit and it will vary depending upon the scope of service and the location of the home. Once performed it is essential that the original report documentation be kept in a safe place for future reference. Details of what one needs to look for in an energy audit and the benefits will be addressed in additional sections.

Copyright © 2006, Dennis & Siti Crook, The Energy Efficient Home Team™

Valuing Energy Efficiency in Homes

With soaring energy costs in the country the question is being asked more and more if the energy efficiency of a home should be taken into consideration when being appraised? The answer is yes. As energy costs continue to raise, the value of a home that is more efficient then the standard home should receive higher valuation and that is just where the industry is beginning to turn. An energy efficient home rating program was developed by a US government based organization dedicated to helping consumers save money and protect the environment by using and educating consumers about energy efficient products and practices. An energy efficient home rating system is able to test the overall efficiency of a home and rank it based on how well it falls within the energy guidelines. With testing and government based certificates, homeowners can now have documentation of their home energy savings. If a homeowner has a higher energy efficiency then the average home, then not only are they saving money on their energy bill, but increasing money in their pockets monthly and thus giving their home a higher value.

It is not necessary to do a complete home renovation in order to realize energy savings. Savings can start with your everyday home appliances such as your microwave, light bulbs, DVD players and more. Did you know that even a small change such as switching from an incandescent light bulb to a longer lasting compact fluorescent bulb can save you over $60 in an 8-year period based on replacement and operating costs? And that is just based on one light bulb. When a home is filled with products that meet government energy saving standards, not only can the savings accumulate but appraisers are now beginning to add value to home’s based on the home’s overall energy savings.

According to Kathy Price-Robinson in the United States there are currently around half a million homes that have had energy efficient home rating conducted. The U.S. Department of Energy by the year 2010 would like at least two million homes to be rated. “That is a small step in comparison to the over 128 million homes in the United States today that are not rated; however, it is surely a step in the right direction.” The energy efficient home rating program was created not with the resolve just to rate homes for overall efficiency but to make consumers more aware of the waste of energy in homes that drive up energy bills.

Copyright © 2006, Frangipani & Siti Crook, The Energy Efficient Home

Utility Bill Costs—Have You Taken Them into Account? Part II

When consumers are at their maximum on debt to equity ratios and utility bills only continue to rise, it becomes a matter of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. That once simple mortgage payment of $1933 a month is often times cannibalized to pay utility bills that must still be paid even when times are tough. 30 Year fixed mortgage loan payments stay the same while energy costs do not. One can be paying $150 in April for electric but when the summer’s blistering heat happens that bill can double or even triple and leave homeowners searching to come up with an extra $300 or $400 per month—the juggling act known as “robbing Peter to pay Paul” begins.

When funds become tighter as home utility bills increase, the funds needed to cover these increased costs must come from some where. Credit cards are frequently used to pay these reoccurring monthly expenses. The juggling act is now in full swing and it is not long before the decision becomes whether to pay the utility bill or the mortgage payment. By the time one is at this level of choice it is not very long before one finds them self either in foreclosure or without electric power.

There are some people that do not think financial problems will befall them and then there are some people afraid to move forward fearing something catastrophic will cause them financial ruin. It does not have to be an “either or” situation. The more you know about energy efficient homes the less likely you are to end up in an unpleasant home ownership situation as described above. When looking to purchase a home, one must learn more than just the acquisition cost of the home. Consumers must begin to take into account the energy operating costs of the homes they are purchasing. The larger the house, the larger the utility bills will be unless it is energy efficient. An energy efficient home will add comfort to your lives and dollars to your pocket.

Copyright © 2006, Frangipani & Siti Crook, The Energy Efficient Home Team™

Utility Bill Costs—Have You Taken Them into Account? Part I

The growing trend in America, as has been for many years, is to get the biggest and best home that one can possibly afford. Generally, new homeowners buy homes up to the maximum amount possible based on their income, credit score, and debt to equity ratio. What many homeowners don’t take into account when deciding to purchase a new home is the effect the cost of their utilities, heat and/or air conditioning will have on their monthly cash flow. The desire to have the very best is tempting, but the back end costs can really add up. Utilities on any home can become very costly in the winter and summer months. With the increased desire to purchase larger homes there is the added responsibility of larger and larger utility bills.

For an example take Joe and Mary. They have been married for a year and are ready to purchase a home. Joe works for a growing national company in management, and Mary works at a local company in accounting. Together they earn a cumulative household gross income (before taxes) of $80,000 a year. After speaking with a realtor and mortgage broker, they determine that the maximum mortgage loan monthly payment they are qualified for in order to purchase a home is $1,933 a month which includes the payments for principal and interest, taxes, and homeowner’s insurance. Mary and Joe are excited to purchase a newly built home in a great neighborhood they found, just the style and statement they are looking for, and right at the maximum amount that they are qualified for. Mary and Joe don’t necessarily need this large of a house since it’s only the two of them for now, but see that in the future they will use the rest of the space because they want to start a family. However, this home’s mortgage payment including taxes and insurance are the maximum they are qualified for and it would definitely make money a little tighter for them than what they are used to, but home ownership is the American dream and they want the best house they can get so why shouldn’t they get it?

Five years later, 2 kids and a dog, that once slightly tight budget has gotten much tighter. With minimal increases in salaries and multiple increases in expenses such as gasoline, food, etc their once sufficient cash flow has become a series of budgets and sacrifices.

When consumers like Mary and Joe purchase homes and don’t take into consideration the cost to operate their home, they can end up being financially strapped—“house rich cash poor”. With energy costs rising continuously, utility bills are not expected to go down any time soon, if ever. The market place is unstable, it is a time of war, costs of everything seems to increase almost daily, quality seems to be diminishing and job stability certainly is not what it was 30 years ago. That once affordable 2350 sq ft home is getting more and more expensive to keep warm and cool.

Copyright © 2006, Frangipani & Siti Crook, The Energy Efficient Home Team™

Weatherization—A Worthwhile Program for Home Energy Savings Or Not?

The Weatherization Program is a government funded social program aimed to aid low-income homeowners and renters to make their homes more energy efficient. Formed under the Department of Energy, weatherization started back in 1976 in response to the oil crisis. The impact of the crisis on low-income families spurred a call to action from the government to try and provide aid and relief for fuel bills that were putting people into debt and some cases poverty. But what does weatherization really do for these homeowners and renters?

Efforts to weatherize began with weather-stripping, caulking doors and windows and putting plastic sheets up over windows to shield from drafts. Over the years, technological updates have caused the weatherization program to shift towards changes that would stay more permanent such as adding insulation to attics, installing storm windows and doors, replacing or fixing hot water heaters and furnaces. Now, the use of audit software makes it so each individual home is assessed and fixed based on each home’s energy need.

Today the national average expenditure per home limit, according to the DOE, ranges between $2744 and $2826. Assuming that those numbers are strictly materials and not including labor, administration costs, benefits and other costs of service, what can you really do to a home to make it that much more energy efficient on such a limited budget? Many of the problems of energy loss are in major areas such as windows, insulation and the roof. These areas require greater financial allocations than what is currently available through the weatherization programs.

According to DOE statistics when a home is weatherized it is supposed to reduce energy consumption on an average of 30% per year.

To qualify for the weatherization program your household income must fall below 150% of the poverty level. In 2005 a family of 3 earning less than $24,1354 would be eligible for weatherization; a family of 4 earning less than $29,025; and a family of five $33,915. Most states prioritize their applicants by age, disability and children. For information on weatherization you may go on line and search keyword “weatherization program”.

Copyright © 2006, Frangipani & Siti Crook, The Energy Efficient Home Team™