A Window (Literally) on Energy Efficiency

by Emily Gertz

categories: Cities, Consumer, DIY, Greenhouse Gas, Policy & Legislation

Published August 17, 2009 @ 11:42AM PT

Thanks to federal tax credits included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and extended by President Obama in February when he signed the economic stimulus bill, there's been an uptick in business for makers and installers of energy-conserving windows.

Check out these federal tax credits -- 2009 and 2010 might be your year for putting in energy-smart windows, doors, and skylights; roofing and insulation; water heaters and air conditioning, and biomass stoves.

According to a new report from McKinsey and Company, straightforward changes like these could cut US energy use 23 percent by 2020, save the economy $1.2 trillion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.1 gigatons a year.

It sounds simple enough -- until they show up and rip your walls open.

Today, my apartment, including the home office, is the kick-off location for the installation of new windows across my entire three-building co-op.

Not to gripe, really. They're going to be a lovely upgrade to our standard of living, especially given the near-century age of the buildings: Solarban 60 Low-E Glass, which blocks solar heat gain in the summer, insulates better in the winter, and reduces the UV entering the space while transmitting a high percentage of visible light.

(This last helps stop the sun from fading your furnishings, which gets to be a pretty expensive and waste-causing problem if you would rather not have unintentionally two-toned rugs and furniture).

The installers are working hard and doing a great job, especially given the wood rot they've encountered underneath our old window frames.  (Par for the course in a pre-war NYC apartment building that has not always been lovingly maintained.)

But it's 90 degrees F worth of hot, dusty and disrupted around here -- and once the crew's finished I'll need to mop the floors, vacuum the rugs, push all the furniture back into place, and soothe the nerves of my cats, who are justly outraged at having spent most of the day imprisoned in their carriers.

So my blog posting may be light for the rest of today.  But in the energy-efficient window spirit, here's a selection of energy efficiency and emissions-reducing news:

Clotheslines for Sale: Plethora of Drying Options Online (Treehugger)

New England Frito-Lay Plant Goes 'Off the Grid' (Greener Buildings)

Scotland eyes carbon-capture for North Sea (Financial Times)

China study urges greenhouse gas caps, peak in 2030 (Reuters)

Energy Frontiers: Space Solar, Hot Lots (Dot Earth blog - The New York Times)