Here are five ways window upgrades can elevate your home comfort from good to positively luxurious – all while reducing your carbon footprint.
1. Keeping HEAT IN during winter
A good window will act like a transparent blanket, insulating the home against the cold outside. Given that windows can be one of a home’s biggest sources of heat loss, improving their ability to trap heat can make a big difference in thermal comfort and heating bills. Good windows typically have two, three, or even four panes of glass, with inert gas between the panes to minimize heat flow. Heat flow is measured as a thermal transmittance, or U-value. The lower the U-value, the better a window’s ability to resist the flow of heat, keeping your home comfy and warm in winter. Top that off with insulated spacers and insulated frames, and you will be cosy all winter long.
2. Keeping HEAT OUT in summer
In summer, a well-insulated window will help, but a home with lots of windows may still heat up quickly on sunny days. Better windows have a special low-emissivity (low-E) coating on them to reflect some of the sun’s heat back outside. Low-E coatings can also be placed strategically to reflect interior heat back into the home in colder climates. The amount of solar heat reflected is measured by the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC), with lower values generally being the better option.
3. Reducing drafts
Many windows have small gaps between the window frame and the rest of the home, where hot or cold air from outside can creep into the interior. Fortunately, a bit of caulking around the interior trim, or spray foam in the gaps behind it, can block those drafts. Weatherstripping around movable windows is also helpful. Sealing those gaps can make a noticeable dent in the cost of heating or cooling your home.
4. Reduced noise
The noise generated by traffic, lawnmowers, snowblowers, or neighbors partying late can all disrupt your comfort. This is where an extra pane of glass or thicker glass can make a real difference. You are looking for an outdoor-indoor transmission class (OITC) rating of 30 or more if you want to keep your home peacefully quiet.
5. The smug comfort of knowing your home looks awesome
And if all of that weren’t enough, upgraded windows can improve the look and value of a home. Unlike wall insulation that is hard to show off, new windows help a home look better from both the inside and the outside. This increased curb appeal may even raise the resale value, as can the annual savings on heating and electricity from a better-insulated home.
Budget-friendly ways to improve window performance
New windows can be pricey. Instead of replacing them, you can also try some of these budget-conscious strategies:
- Adding heat-shrink film or insulated blinds to keep the heat indoors
- Closing light-colored blinds or curtains over a window in summer to prevent rooms from warming up
- Strategic placement of trees, shrubs, or awnings to provide shade while preserving your views
- DIY air sealing to prevent drafts
At Project Drawdown, we categorized Improve Windows and Glass as a highly recommended climate solution because, in addition to making your home more comfortable, quieter, more affordable, and attractive to buyers, upgraded windows can help make a dent in the greenhouse gas emissions released when energy is used to power heaters and air conditioners. With upgraded windows, you can rest easy knowing that they are now one of the best parts of your home, both for personal comfort and the climate.
Heather McDiarmid, Ph.D., is a climate change mitigation consultant and educator who specializes in decarbonization solutions for the residential sector. At Project Drawdown, her work focuses on climate solutions related to buildings, electricity, industry, and transportation.
Henry Igugu, Ph.D., is a researcher and educator with expertise in building energy performance and sustainability. His work involves systems optimization in buildings for efficiency and competency development in green design. At Project Drawdown, his work focuses on assessing climate solutions in the building sector.
This work was published under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. You are welcome to republish it following the license terms.
About Project Drawdown
Project Drawdown is the world’s leading guide to science-based climate solutions. Our mission is to drive meaningful climate action around the world. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Project Drawdown is funded by individual and institutional donations.
