Technical Glossary

Air leakage measures how much air will enter a room through a product. The lower the number, the fewer drafts you’ll experience.

The Cool Climate number – or rating – indicates the amount of energy that you can save by using the window attachment if you live in a cooler climate (where you turn on your heat most of the year), compared to not using a window attachment at all. In other words, if the window attachment you are interested in buying has a Cool Climate rating of 64, installing the attachment over an existing window in your home will save 64% of the energy that would otherwise be lost without the attachment.

Window unit with two panes of glass sealed into a single glazing unit; gas between the panes insulates the window.

Double Pane with Clear Glass is a type of window that provides strong thermal performance: good resistance to heat loss, high solar heat gain, and high visual transmittance.

Double Pane windows with Low-E glass provide high resistance to heat loss and can be utilized for solar gain but with some loss of visual transmittance.

How readily the surface of a material gives off heat by radiation. Many common building materials have “high” emissivity (around 0.9 out of 1.0 being a perfect emitter), while materials or objects with metallic coatings or surfaces have “low” emissivity (around 0.15 or less).

Nearly invisible metallic coating on inside surface of double-pane glass windows, storm windows, and interior window panels that improves the energy efficiency of the window and the thermal comfort of occupants.

Single Pane Clear Glass windows, commonly found on older homes, provide the weakest thermal performance but highest visual transmittance amongst window types. The window unit has just one pane of glass.

The SHGC measures how well a product can resist unwanted heat gain, which is especially important during summer cooling season. The lower the number, the less you’ll spend on cooling.

Measures how well a product can keep heat from escaping from the inside of a room. The lower the number, the better a product is at keeping heat in.

VT measures how well a product is designed to effectively light your home with daylight, potentially saving you money on artificial lighting. The higher the number, the more natural light is let in.

The Warm Climate number – or rating – indicates the amount of energy that you can save by using the window attachment if you live in a warmer climate (where you use your air conditioning most of the year), compared to not using a window attachment at all. In other words, if the window attachment you are interested in buying has a Warm Climate rating of 64, installing the attachment over an existing window in your home will save 64% of the energy that would otherwise be lost without the attachment.