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When it comes to wasting energy, it's a fact that most of the heat that disappears out of your home does so through the windows. Most cheap windows have poor seals that lead to drafts and heat loss. This leads to you turning up the heating to compensate which in turn leads to higher energy bills and, topically, you're not helping the environment either. Of course, fitting new energy-efficient windows is a great idea, but it's going to be pretty expensive, right? Well, not necessarily. There are government tax breaks to consider and the ultimate saving in your heating bills. The US Federal Government certainly wants to encourage you to install energy-saving windows by offering you as a home owner a tax credit to cover 10 per cent of the windows' price up to a limit of $500 per year. So you can see that this is effectively a discount on the purchase price making energy-saving windows and doors much more affordable - and don't forget to factor in the reduced energy bills you'll enjoy too. This particular tax credit is called the Existing Home Tax Credit for Fenestration and covers windows installed from 31st December 2005 to 1st January 2008. There's an organization that has come up with a rating system to work out the energy efficiency of windows. It is the National Fenestration Rating Council or NFRC. Its' rating systems are the U-Factor which determines how good your windows are at retaining the heat in your home (the lower this rating, the better) and the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient which measures how the windows help to keep the house cool (again, the lower the rating the better). If you want to qualify for the Federal Government tax credit you need to install products that have been rated by this organization. You'll need to submit a copy of your receipt as proof of purchase along with the product's NFRC sticker. What should you look for in a window, besides an Energy Star rating? The market supplies many choices, but here are some guidelines. The majority of windows that have an energy-efficient insulating function will be double- or even triple-glazed. Between the glass panes will often be an inert, insulating gas like 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. Finally, good windows have a tight seal that you should be able to feel when you open and close them in the showroom. Try it out. Repeatedly. Compare the cheap windows to the more expensive ones. With practice, you should be able to tell a well-sealed window from a badly sealed one. Only the seal on your refrigerator door should be better. So, although replacing those old, drafty windows may look to be an expensive proposition in the short-term, remember to factor in the government tax break of ten per cent and ten to twenty five per cent savings on energy costs, and they might not look quite so expensive after all.
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
If you're looking for some energy conservation idea 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. You can get a unique content version of this article.
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