One of the biggest worries of running a family budget is how to reduce everyday expenses, big and small, to have more money available at the end of the month.
Nobody likes to waste money, especially in a difficult moment like the one we are all experiencing right now. However, even if it can sometimes be challenging, we are all keen to find new, practical and cost-effective solutions for our homes.
When trying to save money, it’s very important to achieve short-term results.
One of the most cost-effective solutions is always to avoid waste and, when looking at the construction industry, for example, this means using better construction techniques and improved technologies, such as double glazing installed in windows.
The introduction of double glazing in the construction industry
If we look, for example, at the history of the construction industry in Italy, we can’t say that it stands out as an example of innovation. For various cultural, professional and business-related reasons, Italian industry has been often characterised by inconsistent construction approaches, obsolete techniques and low-quality materials.
The result of this is that many older buildings have many issues in terms of both acoustic and energy insulation because this idea was never properly implemented, starting with the windows.
In this respect, the use of insulated glazing or double glazing is a crucial technological progress that has brought many important benefits.
Double glazing and energy savings
The use of double glazing has indeed changed the industry, but it also started to educate end consumers about the idea of energy savings.
By showing them the positive benefits of double glazing in terms of thermal insulation, people started to understand how the investment in better materials and technology during the construction phase can be easily offset by the reduction of energy waste and thus lead to lower monthly bills.
The best way to make a new technology popular is to show its ability to solve a specific widespread problem.
Double glazing is now an essential element in the production of windows along with other new technologies and products related to them, such as double-glazing blinds.
Why double glazing is a cost-effective solution
When we say that double glazing can reduce your monthly bills, we refer to a simple process that was often overlooked in the past.
If we insulate our homes more efficiently, making it more difficult for cold winter temperatures and summer heat to affect our houses negatively, we will be able to rely less and less on heating and cooling systems.
To put it in simple terms, we will use less electricity, wood, pellets, gas, methane or any other combustion system that we use in our homes and the less we consume them, the more money we save.
Simple but effective.
Double glazing and natural gas for excellent performance
How does a double glazing system work? The system is designed with two glass sheets placed a few millimetres apart, forming an insulating cavity.
Properly closed and sealed, this cavity reduces heat dispersion, which was very common in the old-fashioned buildings we mentioned before.
Usually, air is inserted into this cavity but today other noble gases are increasingly used as they have a lower heat dispersion coefficient and provide a better capacity of insulation.
Two noble gasses frequently used in double glazing are argon and krypton, which are two elements that are already present in our atmosphere in very small quantities.
Moreover, when, in addition to introducing a gas inside the double glazing cavity, we also create a larger gap between the two or three sheets of glass, we can improve even more the insulating capacity of the window and therefore further decrease our energy bills.
Double-glazed windows for better thermal insulation
Today there is a wide choice of double-glazed windows available on the market, and you can make a decision based on aesthetics or the design of your home or furniture.
Luckily, double glazing can be installed in wood, PVC and aluminium windows, not to mention hybrid solutions like wood-covered PVC, which certainly represents an elegant option.
This is why one of the most popular solutions in the last few years has been double-glazed PVC windows with wood cladding. This option gives you excellent energy performance, acoustic insulation as well as the beauty and charm of wood, which is usually a much more expensive material.
Double-glazed PVC windows also have the advantage of being cheaper than wooden or aluminium ones – a difference of around 20% – and also have lower maintenance costs.
In addition to this, PVC has a smaller environmental impact, thanks to its composition that makes it almost entirely recyclable. So, it’s fair to say that Nature also benefits from the advantages of double-glazed windows.