Heat Gain

Every day, the sun rains down immense quantities of energy on the earth. In colder climates and winter months, this energy is quite beneficial, warming our homes and buildings, and reducing our need for heating fuel.

However, for homes in the winter months, and for commercial office buildings most of the year, unmanaged solar energy creates a thermal heating load that must be removed by air conditioning. The majority of this solar heat gain comes through windows. The most effective way to manage the amount of solar heat gain that enters a home or office is to block it before it gets into the building.

Storm windows provide opportunities to reduce the solar heat gain through the use of low-e glass, tinted glass and between-window blinds.