With the changing seasons, comes a drop in temperature and an increase in building heating expenses. You may have already considered window replacements if you manage an older commercial office, multi-family, elder care, municipal, or academic buildings and are trying to lower energy costs and improve energy efficiency and comfort. When facing window replacements, we come to the question of single, double, or triple pane windows; but how are they different, and is there another alternative?

Single pane windows are just that, a single piece of glass separating you from the temperature of the outside world. They are common in older homes and buildings and are not energy efficient. Your building can have the best-insulated walls, but in the winter, your heat can escape through the surface area of that thin piece of glass.

Picture it, you’re sitting on a beach on a hot day, sipping on an icy cold beverage of your choice. The first thing you will notice is that your hand is wet from the condensation from the glass, that is because glass is not the best insulator for heat exchange on its own. In this situation, an insulated glass would keep your beverage cooler longer and your hand dry. The same goes for having an insulated coffee mug on a cold day. That double layer of material with an insulating area of air slows the heat exchange. In the instance of double pane windows, the area between the two panes of glass is commonly vacuumed sealed with argon gas to help improve insulation. Triple pane windows add another layer of insulation to further minimize the thermal exchange created by the large surface area of your windows. 

Replacing windows isn’t the only effective solution. There is another answer to this problem: WindowSkin®. WindowSkin is a snap-on window insulation panel that attaches to existing windows in minutes to keep heat inside in the winter and outside in the summer for a fraction of the cost of replacement. The secret is, when WindowSkin is attached, a volume of air is trapped, creating that insulating buffer. Today, WexEnergy is working with commercial agents and multi-family building complexes, but as we grow, we hope to bring this technology to the larger marketplace.

Consider WindowSkin if you are a building manager or owner considering a window upgrade to lower heating and cooling costs and improve tenant comfort. We’d love to talk to you about how our window insulation panels can help your property portfolio.