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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. It's certainly true that the US Government wants to encourage you to fit energy-efficient windows by giving you a 10% tax break for doing so up to a maximum of $500 per year. This specific tax credit is called the Existing Home Tax Credit for Fenestration and covers windows installed between 31st December 2005 and 1st January 2008. So there's still time for you to benefit. The organization that rates the energy-saving capabilities of windows is the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC). Their measures are the U-Factor which rates how well the window retains heat in your house - the lower this rating, the better - and the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient which shows how well your windows keep your house cool - again, the lower, the better. In order to qualify for the above tax credit you need to install energy-efficient products rated by this organization. They'll all display NFRC stickers which you'll need to keep along with your receipts as proof of purchase. 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. There's also a film or reflective metal coating that manufacturers can put on the glass which helps to achieve lower U-Factor ratings. Some treatments of this sort can even help to filter out damaging UV radiation. It's a good idea if you are installing a west-facing window to attempt to obtain glass that has a really low Solar Heat Gain Coefficient. This is useful because rooms with west-facing windows often have overheating problems in the afternoons. Your dealer should be able to help you with this. All good windows have a very tight seal that should be easily apparent when you try to open and close them when checking them out in the showroom. It's a good idea to give this a very good tryout. If you take the time to do a comparison across the cheap to very expensive windows on offer to you, you'll very quickly learn how to work out which have poor seals. Any poorly sealed window will be very energy inefficient, the very opposite of what you're looking for. It may be cheaper now but it'll surely cost you in the longrun. 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.energyefficienthomearticles.com
Article Source: www.uberarticles.com/articles If you're looking for some energy conservation in the home 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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