INSULATION FOR EXTERIOR WINDOWS

As we can see in Table 1, exteriors windows are a really important part for the insulation. Indeed,
the heat transfer between inside and outside the house is one of the most important via the exterior
windows. That is why during the last few years, much efforts have been put in the insulation for
exterior windows, and a lot of improvement have been made focusing on this part of the house.

To have the best performance of energy conservation, a window has to have three important
properties :

 A favourable air-tightness
 Water tightness
 Thermal insulation

In order to know whether a material responds to those properties, certain values are determined.

 The heat transfer coefficient : It corresponds to the heat transfer between the two
sides of the envelope of the building, at stable conditions like the difference of
temperature between inside and outside, the duration of the measurements, and
the surface. The unit is W/ (m2 ꞏk). If we want the best insulation, we want the heat
transfer coefficient to be the lowest as possible.
 The shading coefficient : In warm areas, where there is no shading and the solar
radiations are strong, the heating via the windows is really important. Therefore, the
energy used in order to cool the house represents a big proportion of the total
energy consumption. Hence some windows have shading properties, which lead to
reduce the solar radiations that enter the building. When there is no external
shading, the shading coefficient is equal to the shading coefficient of the material of
the window; if there is, it is equal to the product of the two coefficients.
 The G-value : This last value refers to the solar energy transmittance. Indeed, this
value is giving us, under same conditions, the rate of the amount of solar energy
entering the room through the material of the window to the amount of solar
energy entering the room without the material, under the same conditions. This
value is always between 0 and 1, and more precisely between 0,15 and 0,80. Like
the shading coefficient, this value is significant in order to reduce the energy
consumption related to the cooling of the house.

For a passive house, the G-value has to be superior to 0,5 and the heat transfer coefficient inferior or
equal to 0,8 W/ (m2 ꞏk).
In order to reach those values, architects have to choose the material of the windows wisely.
Obviously, glass represents about 75% of materials of the window. The rest is the material of the
frame. For an optimal insulation, the best materials are the ones with a low heat transfer coefficient,
like wood, plastic or fiberglass ; but no metal.

Here’s in the following table, different types of glass with the different variables that we talked
about before.