If you’re looking for an all-in-one way to cut your household energy bills and emissions, as well as making your home a whole lot more comfortable, it’s hard to go past your windows.

Australian homes – which have been dubbed “glorified tents” – are way behind homes in countries like the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand when it comes to using high-performance windows. Only 11% of Australian homes have installed these double or triple-glazed windows, along with better-insulated frames, compared to rates of around 80% in those other countries.

And we certainly feel the difference in Australian homes. Up to 87% of heat gain in summer and 40% of heat loss in winter is through the windows. Yet, as Trivess Moore, Lisa de Kleyn and Tom Simko report today, the reason has little to do with the local window industry’s ability to provide better windows. Their research shows it’s more a result of unambitious building regulations, lack of awareness of the benefits, window costs and the absence of government programs to encourage their installation.

A big advantage of better windows is that the improvements they offer aren’t just limited to new constructions – most existing buildings can be retrofitted too. As overseas experience shows, the goal of making high-performance windows a standard fixture in our buildings is achievable.

Ps: Yesterday’s editorial was incorrectly attributed: it was written by our editor, Misha Ketchell, not our economics editor, Peter Martin.

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