Stop those frequent trips to Home Centers, you will not find R5 triple glazed, high performance
replacement windows and patio doors at any of them. You will however find low priced replacement windows and patio doors and if you believe it's possible to find low price replacement windows that either out-perform or perform equally to the entire R5 high performance replacement windows industry we suggest you keep reading. Some homeowners may believe this web site is here to convince people they should pay higher prices for R5 high performance replacement windows "just because" we say you should. If this is your thinking then you miss the boat entirely.
This web site is to promote the sales of products that work and out-performance their look-alike cousins. By educating homeowners and backlinking R5 replacement window businesses it is this web site's desire to make R5 triple glazed replacement windows more affordable for every one and common place nationwide. With more demand the cost lowers. The chain of Supply and Demand has always been a Win - Win for consumers as well as businesses, ..you know that.
"The only thing more expensive than hiring a professional is hiring an amateur"
What is a Net-Zero Energy Building
The Dept of Energy has embraced the strategic goal of developing net-zero energy in residential housing by 2020 and commercial buildings by 2025 to reduce national energy consumption. A net-zero energy building or retro-fit is a residential or commercial building with greatly reduced needs for energy through efficiency gains (60 to 70% less than conventional practice), with the balance of energy needs supplied by renewable technologies. Highly insulating R5 triple glazed replacement windows are the key "first step" to achieving net-zero energy for our homes and buildings.
How can Homeowners Comply with this Policy? The R5 triple glazed replacement windows industry all across America greatly appreciates the Dept of Energy endorsement. Triple glazed replacement window manufacturers have been fighting the "good fight" trying to educate America's homeowners for almost 3 decades. Now the Dept of Energy and the EPA's Energy Star® Program have finally witnessed that our claims on energy efficiency are accurate and honest, but have American homeowners woken-up yet?
Triple pane high performance replacement window dealers nationwide have known for almost 30 years that triple glazed replacement windows are far more superior to double glass windows. A study from the University of Illinois known as the C-1.5 Home Energy Study has been published annually since the early 80's. It proves that for the last three decades triple glass high performance replacement windows heavily out-perform double glass replacement windows. The only way American homeowners can reach net-zero energy goals is to start with replacing their old inefficient windows.
The Confusion
Which replacement window should homeowners invest in, double glazed or triple glazed? Maybe we should look at the reason for this controversy in the first place. Back in the late 70's the replacement window industry was born in America. Germany however was manufacturing replacement windows in the early 60's and supplying most of Europe. It was learned early on that double glazing was a benefit over single glazed windows, it was such a no brainer that fenestration engineers thought of triple glazing right away. But the one difficulty was the technology used to build double glazed replacement windows (machinery) was already in factories meeting the high demand for this new an exciting product when it was realized that triple glazing out-performed double glazing by as much as 40%. (Dept of Energy)
What were these factories too do?
As double glazed manufacturing businesses began to pop-up by the mid 80's these businesses found their glazing technology was soon to be out-dated. Their double glazing machinery wasn't even paid off yet and now it's found out to be out-dated just a few years after they opened their doors. During this time replacement window manufacturing found its way across the pond and settled in America (the Pittsburgh area too be exact). Luckily there were a handful of American manufacturers that saw the problems in Europe and decided right from the beginning triple glazing was the only way to go, face it Europe had already proved it. Today in many areas of Europe triple glazed windows are the law!!
You can build double glazed replacement windows with triple glazing technology - however you can not build triple glazing replacement windows with double glazing technology. Some have tried to do it "on-the-cheap" but it doesn't work. So at this point many double glazed manufacturers also got challenged with even more advances in glass technology. What were they to do? We are talking about millions of dollars in machinery, could we expect every double glaze manufacturer to just throw out their double glazing equipment and purchase new triple glazing equipment? It would have been wonderful if they did, but of course they did not.
WHY?
In the early 80's there were little to no regulations, the Dept of Energy was only 7 years old, so there was no help from them. Also the new construction window industry began advertising "thermal windows" for new home construction. These businesses such as Andersen®, Pella Windows® and Marvin® were well known established window businesses and they were greatly respected.
But for what? Energy efficiency was relatively new, so it wasn't that these new construction windows had gained such great notoriety in thermal efficiency. It was in the beauty of their products that made them so well respected and advertising budgets the size of a small countries GNP. IT WAS NOT THEIR WONDERFUL THERMAL EFFICIENCY. Being smart businesses these new construction window companies capitalize on this fame and all sold double glazed windows. So they must be good, Andersen®, Pella Windows® and Marvin® and all the rest offered double glass. Remember at this time none of these new construction window manufacturers even had a replacement window in their product line. It may have been their belief the retro-fit window business was a cheap way to put windows in existing homes and never thought the "replacement windows" industry would ever take off as a real industry.
Some 17 years later...
By 2003 every new construction window manufacturer have their own version of a replacement
window line of products and all were still double glazed. While all during this time small boutique triple glaze replacement window manufacturers were building up speed and becoming a threat to the double glazed manufacturers. The handful of these triple glazed replacement window manufacturers did not have the advertising budgets the "Big Boys" did, so what were they to do? Think hard about this for a moment. These small boutique triple glazed replacement window manufacturers knew their replacement windows were far superior and their thermal efficiency was in many cases double that of the new construction windows. They had to do something or close their doors. We often refer to these early triple glazed replacement window manufacturers as brave and courageous men and women who would not buckle-under just because they were small. What they did decide was to market their triple glazed replacement windows through home improvement companies that were just as serious about their businesses. These triple glazed replacement window manufacturers took a page from the "Fuller Brush Man", you remember them. Sales people that would come to your home and present quality products you couldn't fine in the local hardware store. They also took a page from "Cutco" the best home kitchen aid knives money could buy. Many of these local home improvement companies quickly saw the light and developed highly trained sales staffs and advertising budgets to generate homeowner interest in their new product, Triple Glazed Replacement Windows. Like Encyclopedias, Fuller Brush, Cutco Knives and Kirby Vacuums a new in-home sales business was not only born but was thriving. What do these in-home sales products all have in common? QUALITY..!! The small boutique triple glazed replacement window industry had taken a foot-holed in America's homes and it has been this way for many years. The R5 triple glazed high performance replacement window business is no longer a small boutique industry. However there were even more challenges to over come, our own EPA for one. EPA Energy Star®
In 1996 the EPA created the Energy Star labeling system for windows. The requirements to get an Energy Star label were and still are ridiculously low. Homeowners should understand these requirements are "minimum" requirements. No where on the Energy Star's material or web site do you see, "U-factors of .35 as a minimum energy efficient window, they left that true and factual statement out! Thus further endorsing double glazed replacement windows as quality energy saving products. When in fact back in 1996 only 35% of all windows made, new construction or replacement windows were to meet the new requirements. Instead it turned out better than 96% of all thermal windows made earned this weak and inefficient labeling system. Reinforcing that double glazed windows must be good.
Nothing could be further from the truth. But as you see the double glazed window took on a life of its own, for better or worse the double glazed window industry lives on. Thus making it more expensive for homeowners to purchase R5 triple glazed high performance replacement windows that really do the job homeowners wanted. The dedication these triple glazed manufacturers have shown is truly an American success story, even till now they know their products are far superior to double glazing and we tip our hats to their steadfast position. The balance of truth is slowing swinging in triple glazings' direction.
R5 Triple Glazed High Performance Vinyl Replacement Windows and Patio Doors
R-5 Replacement Windows: The Definition
R-5 windows are highly insulating replacement windows with a whole-window R-value of 5 or higher (a U-factor of around 0.22 for operable, 0.20 fixed windows) and are the
top tier of energy efficient high performance replacement windows available today. An R-value is resistance, a U-factor is the measurement of heat loss through a window. The only reason an R rating was given to fenestration products is the fact that most Americans know very little about U-factors. The greatest percentage of ENERGY STAR® replacement windows only have a U-factor of around 0.32. Reducing the U-factor from 0.32 to 0.20 (R-5 Windows) reduces the average heat loss through the window by more than another 35% to 40% and saves consumers money on energy bills every month while creating a home with lower outside noise and reducing our carbon footprint. You can better understand "R rating" and "U values" if you just remember this simple analogy. Anything that does NOT conduct heat energy can have an R rating and anything that conducts heat energy can have a U value. An yes, glass conducts energy while vinyl, wood, fiberglass and composite materials used for window frames do not conduct heat energy.
Why an R-5 volume window purchase program now?
Windows in the U.S. account for between 35 and 45 percent of energy loss in residential dwellings and commercial buildings heating and cooling systems. This represents an annual impact of 4.1 quadrillion Btu (quads) of primary energy. Windows have an even larger impact on peak energy demand and on occupant comfort since the biggest percentage of our population works 9 to 5. For years it has been said, "More energy is lost through windows annually in America then the amount oil that flows threw the Alaskan Pipeline" and who was saying this, the Dept of Energy. R5 replacement window dealers and manufactures who have had the courage to buck the Energy Star Program which has been giving its labeling system too mediocre windows since 1996. R-5 replacement windows are all triple pane or double pane with a suspended film in between the glass known as "heat mirror" and is also called triple glazed. In cold and mixed climates or high altitude area's throughout the United States R-5 replacement windows offer significant energy savings compared to other so called Energy Star double glazed windows. But why an R5 Window program now? Simple. The cost of energy is going up every day as the we continue to pollute the air we breathe, something needed to be done. Now if you think oil will flow forever and the prices will come down and the quality of air isn't important to you, then by all means stay with your single glazed windows and storm windows while you continue trying to heat up or cool-off the town you live in. It's only brave and courageous people that change minds.
Double Glazed, Triple Pane, Heat Mirror
