Green window and door guide
- Manufacturer’s commitment to environmental stewardship
- Energy efficiency — the building envelope is a key part of how a building will perform in relation to energy efficiency. When a building envelope has windows and doors, there are holes in that envelope that could compromise the energy efficiency. That’s why window and door choices are critical, because high quality and energy efficient windows and doors should be used.
- Recycled content — evaluate the amount of recycled content used — this can be post-consumer or post-industrial.
- Indoor air quality — the main issue with indoor air quality is VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds), so at the very least products need to meet some type of requirements such as Green Seal®.
- Daylighting and views — daylighting and views are a key window property for green, because windows allow for natural daylighting which reduces or eliminates the need for artificial lighting saving on energy costs. A key component is to place windows and shading devices in a location that maximizes daylighting and minimizes heat gain. Views are maximized if all occupants have visibility to the outdoors. Studies show this contributes positively to both work environments and life improvement.
- Increase ventilation effectiveness — operable windows can assist with this, if the building is going to be naturally ventilated to reduce the need for mechanical systems for fresh air flow.
- Light pollution — lights can pollute the night sky and neighboring properties, including the interior lights from a building. The goal is to eliminate light trespass from the building.
- Wood as a building material — utilizing renewable resources.
- Embodied energy — the total energy it takes to produce the product.
- Wood products have a much lower embodied energy than competitor materials such as aluminum, for instance. When compared to a window of the same size, aluminum uses eight times the embodied energy of wood over a 40-year period.
- Certified wood — there are several wood certification systems available, the most well known being FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative). Most of the well-known certification systems are developed and used with the same key purpose in mind, which is to practice sustainable forestry. How they do this will vary.
- Wood is the only renewable source for any building material commonly used today. (Source: AIA Environmental Resource Guide)
- Net volume of softwood on U.S. forestlands was 12 percent greater in 1997 than in 1953. (Source: Forest Resources of the United States, 2002)
- 80 percent of Pella Corporation’s wood supply comes from 3rd party certified forestry.