Comfort. Window replacement at McLean Gardens would result in reduced window air leakage and increased wintertime temperatures vinal at the inner glass surface. Reduced air leakage means replacement fewer drafts windows near windows. Increased wintertime glass temperature would reduce cold vinal convection currents that spill off windows, replacement further reducing the sensation of drafts. windows and vinal The temperature increase would also increase the average radiant temperature of the indoor environment. (Average radiant temperature has nearly as strong an influence on comfort as does air temperature.) While all the replacement options would yield some increase in replacement temperature, the higher-performance low-e, argon-filled glass would offer the greatest increase. While improved comfort has value in itself, it may also result in thermostat adjustments that yield additional real energy savings.

There are three windows and vinal basic configurations of residential units at McLean Gardens: bi-level units on the first two floors, middle-level units, and upper-level units that include loft space replacement under the slope of the roof (see Figure 2). For our energy simulations, we selected six actual floor plans, two each of lower, middle, and upper units, with one of each type having a relatively small window area and windows one a large area. The idea was to bracket the energy use of most units with high and low estimated energy vinal use and energy savings.[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]For energy analysis, we chose Visual DOE, a commercial front-end product that executes DOE 2.1E in performing hourly simulations of energy use in the building. Visual DOE doesn''t perform air leakage calculations, however, which we needed replacement to get a good windows comparison between existing and replacement options.