Effective ways to make sure your home is energy & cost efficient …

Home Energy Articles Series

Part 1 – Determining current costs.
Part 2 – Cost over savings analysis.
Part 3 – Getting started finding your biggest needs.
Part 4 – Start small for big savings.
Part 5 – Your window savings.

Your window savings
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No one would argue the need for windows in a home, but they can cost you a great deal of money when it comes to energy. Windows allow for air to pass through them easily and In effect, they can be a huge part of you energy usage.

Those that have windows that are not properly insulated, could be looking at up to 35 percent of their energy loss to come from those windows. That’s 35 percent of the energy that you could save if your windows were working for you and not against you.

Should You Replace Or Repair?

There are several things that you can do to repair them. But first you may need to consider carefully the benefits of replacing your old windows. If you have older windows, it may be necessary to replace them.

Windows on a home should be replaced every ten to twenty years, depending on the type of window and its insulation. It is not so much their age, though, as the way in which they work.

The optimum usage you should be looking for is a good level of protection. You want the heat to stay in during the winter months and the cold to stay out. And reverse that for the summer months. But this can be hard to achieve with older windows.

Windows that have less than two panes of glass should be replaced for additional energy efficiency, if your budget allows for it.

If there are cracks, breaks and other areas where the window is compromised, these too should be replaced beyond a doubt. Sometimes these leaks are not obvious, but you can sometimes feel a draft from badly insulated windows, especially in the winter.

When it comes to replacing windows, it is not always necessary to purchase the most expensive windows you can find out there. But, because the windows in your home make up such a large portion of the energy that you use, you want to purchase the highest quality, energy efficient windows that you can afford.

Your windows should look the way that you want them, but it is more important to get those that will keep temperatures even throughout the home instead.

The cost of replacing your windows can be a big expense, but the fact is that they can save you a great deal of money over the long haul.

Waiting for a couple of months (or next year) before purchasing new windows may be just fine. But in the meantime, why not consider implementing some of these energy saving tips you can do right now and save yourself some money?

Read More Related Articles

Hope you read all five articles in this series. For a more “Definitive guide to energy efficient homes, please visit my energy efficient home guide to discover the rest of the information you’ve been searching for at:

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