Renewal by Andersen® Windows and Passive Solar Design
December 29, 2015Renewal by Andersen® Windows
Minimizing energy use through smart design is an excellent way to help the environment. Buildings consume a significant amount of the country’s energy. Implementing passive design strategies will reduce energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions, and preserve our natural resources. Huff ‘N Puff explains how our products can help with passive design.
What Is Passive Solar Design?
Passive design or passive solar design makes the most of the climate, the building materials, and the building’s location to minimize energy use and improve comfort. The goal is to collect heat from the sun, retain it in materials that store heat, and use this heat to make the home comfortable in winter.
Passive design needs several basic elements, such as properly oriented and highly energy-efficient windows to catch heat. Moreover, it needs thermal mass materials to store that heat and distribution mechanisms to disperse the heat. It also needs control strategies to minimize heat gain in summer. While passive design focuses on new constructions, we can still apply its principles through home improvement and renovation. That’s where our replacement windows in Albany, NY, come in.
How Can Our Windows Help Your Home?
We can replace your old and inefficient windows with replacement units from Renewal by Andersen®. These windows have many features that improve your home’s energy efficiency. Through this project, you move your home closer to passive design standards and minimize your energy use. Our replacement windows will help trap heat inside your home in winter and reduce the need for electrical heating.
Our replacement windows in Albany feature High-Performance™ Low-E4® glass that reflects heat back to where it came from. This keeps heat inside your home in winter and out of your home in summer, keeping your interior comfortable and making it easier for your HVAC to maintain your preferred temperature. This reduces energy consumption, leading to savings of up to 25%. We complement our glass with our window frame material, Fibrex®.
Fibrex is a composite that features the best qualities of wood and vinyl together. It’s low maintenance, durable, strong, and serves as an excellent insulator. These frames won’t rot, chip, crack, peel, blister, or corrode. This minimizes the chance for air leaks and energy loss. Fibrex frames also stay rigid and stable under any sort of temperature change, preventing window warping and broken seals. Finally, Fibrex is twice as strong as vinyl, allowing us to make less bulky frames and increase the available glass area.
Our windows will improve your home’s energy efficiency, reducing your dependence on heating. We also offer several different performance glass packages that will suit your needs. Huff ‘N Puff is the exclusive dealer of Renewal by Andersen windows in the Central District market because of our skills, experience, and commitment to our clients. Give us a call if you’d like to learn more about passive design, or if you’d like to request a free no-obligation consultation.