Energy Efficiency - Get the Facts
Energy Efficiency
Intro to Energy Efficient Glass
Stay cool in summer and warm in winter - this is what glass can do for you.
Choosing the right 'performance glazing' (energy efficient glass) lets you control how much heat enters or escapes from a building. Let's go through the essentials in understanding how your home's energy flow works.
Energy Star Ratings - What Do They Mean?
The growing importance of energy efficiency has us all talking about ‘stars’. However, while we may all be familiar with the term we rarely consider what it is that stars are rating and how they are calculated.
Building energy stars and window energy stars - these are two entirely separate concepts used for different purposes.
Energy and Glass - How It Works
To understand energy transfer in windows and glass - and the value and savings that can be gained from high performace types - it is essential to understand the language involved, and how the relationship between glass and the outside environment.
There are three factors to consider when choosing the glass for your new build or retrofit:
Glazing Cold Climates
There is no doubting the fact that Australia is the last wealthy nation to take even basic steps to improve the standard of its glazing.
But from May this year, some of that is set to change, in some States at least. And it’s in predominately cold climates like Melbourne’s that some of the greatest energy savings can be made by using better glazing.
Windows will typically represent less than 10 per cent of the surface area of your home, they can quite realistically contribute around 50 per cent of your heat loss in winter.
Glazing Mixed Climates
In mixed climates you need to account for hot and cool conditions in roughly equal energy proportions over the course of the year. You ask the same set of windows to keep the inside conditions cool in summer, yet warm in winter.
Measures that work for a hot or cold climate may work in a mixed climate for part of the year, but they can increase the heating and cooling load on the home at other times of the year.
Glazing Hot Climates
Any mention of windows and hot climates inevitably results in the same statement – “we don’t need to worry about insulating our homes in a hot climate”.
Any time you are investing energy (and cost) into changing the temperature of the air inside your home (heating or cooling), it’s worth considering steps to avoid it becoming uncomfortable in the first place, and keeping it comfortable for as long as possible.
Windows are uniquely powerful in giving us this control.
Glass & Energy - Glossary of Terms
Learning the glass energy language can assist you with achiving energy-saving results quickly.
Here's a guide to get you started.