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A comment on Thermos-Like Passive Homes Aggressively Save Energy.

Re:Thermos-Like Passive Homes Aggressively Save Energy by danielharan on Wednesday January 21, 2015 @07:02PM (#8926649)
"The windows are one of the most expensive features,"

The obvious follow-up is what the 80/20 might be on these features. If going with readily available double-pane windows shaves $10,000 off the cost, it may be a decent trade-off - maybe use that money to buy some solar panels instead, aiming for net-zero?

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Re:Thermos-Like Passive Homes Aggressively Save Energy by dsr_ on Wednesday January 21, 2015 @07:31PM (#8926755)
Even the best available windows are not very good. My not-very-special house has R-17 walls; expensive triple panes windows can go to U-0.15. U values are 1/R values, so that's a whopping R-6.

If your roof is in good condition, points the right direction and is unobstructed by trees, solar power is probably a better economic bet than replacing decent windows with super-windows.

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