windows / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Correct window installation details
Windows and doors

How to install windows

...windows on the south side you can gain more heat in the daytime than they will lose at night. For how to choose the best windows for your house, see here. The Demo House has triple-glazed argon-filled wood frame windows from Quebec high performance window manufacturer Elite. Windows on the north, east and west have bee...

Wood frame Triple-glazed, argon-filled windows in the Ecohome Demo House
Windows and doors

Choosing windows - which window frame? wood v aluminum v vinyl

...windows (the ones that open) can work in several ways. Casement and awning windows wind open with a hand crank, sliders slide open sidesways, single and double hung windows open by sliding vertically. Single hung windows only slide up from the bottom, double hung means both sashes move, allowing you to slide them to th...

Correctly installed Triple pane south facing windows on Ecohome's Demo House
Windows and doors

Installing doors & windows for the best performance in high efficiency homes, LEED & Passive House

...windows: position windows towards the center of the rough opening rather than installing them flush to the outside. Windows that are installed at the exterior point of openings have a lot more thermal bridging around the frames. Windows in the centre of the opening reduce the risk of condensation by keeping window peri...

When should you replace windows
Windows and doors

When should you replace old windows?

Windows, Replace or Repair? We often get asked if it is a good idea to replace old windows with new and better performing windows to save money. Usually to the surprise and relief of homeowners we most often tell them to stick with the ones they've got. Not to say that the idea of replacing windows is always 'green was...

How to choose Triple pane, high performance windows
Windows and doors

Our top tips for buying high-performance windows

...windows on the market. Read more about high performance suspended film windows here.  How to install windows properly: Proper installation is the key to long window life and high performance. Buying the best windows in the world will be a waste of money if  you install them poorly. Windows should be installed airtight ...

Vinyl record album
Healthy indoor air quality

Keep vinyl out of your home (albums excluded of course)

...windows, the list goes on. We have surrounded ourselves with the stuff. So what can we do? Slowly but surely, remove it from your life. Here are some alternatives: Glass shower doors Choosing healthy and durable flooring materials Choosing green kitchen countertops Wood or metal siding for exterior cladding Fiberglass...

Passive solar house design
Passive solar home design

Passive solar home design

...windows with low-e coatings to ensure that the heat gained in the daytime outweighs the heat lost at night - or if really wishing to Optimize window performance, consider choosing some of the latest generation suspended-film insulating-glass glazing units or windows like those from LiteZone. It's important to keep in m...

Suspended-film insulating glass windows are high-performance windows
Windows and doors

Suspended-film insulating glass windows - A definitive guide for these high-performance windows

...windows can get a little pricey too. But don’t get us wrong here, better-quality high-performance windows are very much worth the money. Windows are the weakest performing point in a building envelope (one would hope at least), so that’s why we used triple-glazed argon-filled passive house performance windows when we b...

Transparent solar power producing windows
Renewable energy

transparent solar panels

...windows, providing an onboard power source for electronic window functionality or to offset energy consumption in buildings. The Spark, produced by Bloomberg Business, looks at innovators finding solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. This episode of The Spark explores this new technologly from Ubiquitous Energy. ...

Indoor hydroponic vegetable garden
Food production

Growing food indoors

...windows), are not an issue to be concerned about. In fact, the plants will respond quite well to the warm temperature as long as it stays below 30 degrees Celsius. The system does not create much humidity, and what does result may be welcome during winter when many homes can become quite dry. Given the sound of the pum...

Reflective window film to reduce overheating
Windows and doors

Product feature: window film treatment to reflect heat and lower air conditioning bills

...windows. In Reality, rarely does the cost of window replacement purely for saving money actually translate into more money in your pocket, as the cost of purchasing and installing windows usually far exceeds the added energy savings. Read more here about when to replace windows and when to repair them. Windows are with...