Comparative Study of Energy Efficiency of Glazing Systems for Residential and Commercial Buildings

The 2011 Building Energy Databook (DOE, 2011) reported that buildings use approximately 40% of the nation's total energy use. One method of reducing this value is to replace inefficient single glazed window units with their newer, energy efficient counterparts. This study involved the investigation of several different glazing solutions. A comparative energy investigation of numerous products on the market was performed using multiple different software packages for a model residential and commercial building in five different climates across the United States. The paper will introduce the advanced glazing technologies used in the study, present the details of the selected residential and commercial buildings modeled for energy analysis, discuss the results of the thermal property evaluation and energy analysis, and present the conclusions derived from the study.