Triple Pane Windows Vs. Dual Pane Windows With Suspended Film

Suspended film windows allow the use of bigger panes of glass in the design of homes.

According to the U.S. Department Of Energy, 70 percent of the energy you use to heat your house makes a quick exit directly through your windows and doors. In light of that problem, window manufacturers have realized that putting a single pane of glass over a big hole in the wall isn't the most efficient way to insulate a window, and improvements in design and technology have steadily made windows more energy-efficient.

Triple-Pane Windows

Because an air cavity between the panes of glass in a window increases the insulating ability of the window, dual-pane windows were developed as an energy-saving alternative to traditional single-pane windows. Triple-pane windows were the obvious evolutionary step beyond dual-pane windows, with the reasoning that three panes of glass with two intervening air spaces instead of one would be even more efficient. The air cavities in modern triple-pane windows are often filled with an inert gas, such as argon or krypton, and they are indeed more energy-efficient than dual-pane windows, especially when the glass is treated with a low-emittance coating.

Suspended Film Windows

Suspended film windows utilize two panes of glass with one or more layers of transparent film suspended between them. The layers of film function in the same way as the intermediate glass pane in a triple-pane window, dividing the space between the outer panes into two or more insulating air cavities. As in triple-pane windows, the spaces between the glass and the film layers are sometimes filled with an inert gas, and the glass is covered with a low-emittance coating.

Energy Efficiency

Suspended film windows use their superior air cavity design, along with other design enhancements, to achieve insulation performance that is significantly better than that of triple-pane windows. Suspended film windows have been given an R-value rating, a measurement of the window's insulating capacity, more than twice that of the most efficient triple-pane windows. Suspended film windows also block more ultraviolet light than triple-pane windows.

Cost

Suspended film windows cost about a third more than traditional insulated dual-pane windows, but the cost difference between suspended film and triple-pane windows is much less, meaning that energy cost savings make suspended film windows the better economical choice. Manufacturers of suspended film windows claim that additional cost savings can be realized because their product, which is much lighter than triple-pane windows, reduces construction costs and increases the flexibility of a building's design.

References

• Serious Windows: Advantages of Suspended Film In Residential Window Construction
• Walking Mountains Science Center: A LEED Certified Building
• Wisconsin Energy Masters: Triple Pane vs Double Pane -- Is it worth the cost?
• University of Tennessee Knoxville: Capstone Design -- Energy Efficient Windows Triple Pane Window Analysis
• National Real Estate Investor: "Building Owners Slam Window on Sky-High Energy Costs"; Denise Kalette; 2010