Highly Insulating Window Panel Attachment Retrofit

Nationwide, the energy savings potential for replacing the existing windows on commercial buildings with high-performance triple pane windows is about 1 quadrillion BTUs (Apte 2006), which equals just over 1% of the total energy consumption by the United States in 2011. One quadrillion BTUs is also known as 1 “quad” and is equivalent to the energy consumed by 5.5 million U.S. households (US EIA 2012). By using insulating window retrofits installed over existing glass and framing systems to achieve performances levels similar to triple glazing, it should be possible to reduce heating and cooling energy use by two thirds of the previous value for typical existing construction, on average. Larger savings can potentially be achieved by retrofitting buildings with the poorest performance windows in the coldest climates.