I know it’s May 1st, and you are thinking about the beach, sun-tan and barbecues, but now is the prefect time to start thinking about the next winter season, which is not that far away. By the time it comes, it is in your best interest to be ready. Especially if your home is not yet fuel efficient.
Why $5 heating oil? Well, look at the diesel price today. Here in Massachusetts (which has some of the lowest fuel prices across the United States, and is second only to NJ, which has no gas-tax, and thus has nation’s lowest gas price) the price of diesel in most places is above $4.45 per gallon, and given that gas jumped 35 cents in last two weeks, it is safe to assume the $4-plus gas and above $5 diesel/heating oil by the fall / winter time.
Thank you Mr. Bush. Oh, and it is such a pity that Exxon-Mobil missed their earning expectation and made only $10.89 BILLION in net profits, instead of $11.65 billion projected by analysts.
Any way, enough sarcasm, we need to make our homes use less energy. The first thing you can and should do, is replace those old, drafty windows.
Despite the fact that this is Green & Solar site, I’m going to recommend Vinyl windows. That is right, not the wood-green-built but vinyl. Why? It is simple. Remember the Practical Approach thing? The carbon-footprint of vinyl windows is less than that of wooden windows, if you include the heat loss accumulating over time, and the fact that vinyl windows are cheaper and more fuel efficient – therefore they are Practical!
Here I’ll discuss a specific type of vinyl windows – Alside UltraMaxx line, that comes with triple glazing, double low-e and two argon packets. Combined together, UltraMaxx gives you 6.67-r value. Bear in mind that standard and well-built double-glaze, low-e argon window has an R-value of less than 4.
Why Alside UltraMaxx? Well, this is not a commercial paid for by Alside. I just love those windows, and had personally installed many of them. They are very-well built, and have the most durable and sturdy frame of all other Alside lines.
You may ask why not Anderson or Harvey or Pella windows? Well, none of those actually make tripple glaze windows, so my choice is Alside.