Here is a cleverly designed energy efficient house without double glazing.
But it has minimal heating requirements and the owners are comfortable
KI house
Can someone explain how this is possible?
"EVALUATION
The reported experience from the occupants is
that comfort is maintained passively with some
supplementary heating from the stove, and
that energy use is within the capability of the
stand alone photovoltaic system (5.8kWhr/day
on average).
The architect’s assessment placed the building
in the ‘close to carbon neutral’ category,
well above South Australia’s minimum 5 Star
compliance (which is assessed as equivalent to
requiring 21kWhr/day in this climate zone)."
I don't go along with windowexpert's post, I think your challenge is a fair one, but I really can't see the point in specifically designing a home not to have double glazing. I am sure it is possible, but the constraints it places on design are massive - down come window sizes, orientation is paramount, up goes insulation everywhere else, internal layout is restricted. You may as well design a home without batts in the ceiling and meet the energy requirements, and I am sure that is possible too. And, there is no doubt that the home would perform even better with double glazing. to the tune of around 35 watts/m2 of windows. Maybe, with double glazing, they would not need such a large photovoltaic system - with it's government grant (paid by my taxes?) and it's polluting (lead, cadmium, future disposal???) batteries.
In an energy efficient home design, windows are the major culprit of energy theft. Not to work with known technology (at sensible prices) is the equivalent to being a Luddite. I can see windowexpert's point about payback, in recent years all new homes have Caesarstone benchtops, where they used to be laminate. Now, Caesarstone adds no value other than it is currently fashionable. In fact Caesarstone is to stone what MDF is to timber.
A lot of today's home designs use less and less windows to achieve energy standards. I think we all know that we would rather have the home design of our choice, uncompromised. But cost is a factor, I agree.
PS... What most people don't know, is that the energy rating software has been tweeked to give smaller homes an apparent advantage of about one star. If you think you are saving money, think again.
Ed