The Window Problem

I'm off to God's Country today.  I'll see the contractor tomorrow morning to review a draft contract, and then pay a visit to the bank.  Then I have to talk all this over with my architect and attorney.  Along the way I must also arrange with Presque Isle Electric and Gas to have power run to the site.  The contractor will need power as soon as the lot is cleared.  (It's a shame the company wasn't christened Presque Isle Gas and Electric.  Then they would abbreviate as "PIG-E.")

Soon, too, I should get the house number put up so workers and shippers can find the place.  That should not be too difficult, since I understand there are only one or two other single-family homes being built in the county.  The federal tax credit for buying or building a house expires in a couple days.  I've heard nothing from Congress about extending it.  Too bad.  Recovery from the Great Recession will take a lot longer if people are not buying or building houses.  As we recover, I pray we avoid those funny mortgages and slot-machine financial products that Goldman Sachs didn't have anything to do with, indeed never even heard of, according to the "Who?  Us?" testimony their executives gave in this week's Senate hearing.  It's amazing how the smartest people in the world didn't know anything about anything, and got filthy rich on their lack of knowledge.

At the moment my architect is inquiring of Anderson Windows whether their products can be bought with glass which does not block the sun.  Anderson's "LowE" glass is designed to reduce UV penetration, thereby (they claim) helping avoid fading of fabrics.  It also helps prevent heat build-up inside the house.  That makes good sense in the South where the main energy challenge is warm-weather cooling.  But it makes much less sense in the North.  Here, sun penetration during the fall, winter, and spring can provide an increment of solar gain to offset fossil fuel use.  That increment can be more than incidental if the structure is designed for passive solar heating, as my house is.  In addition, use of UV-averting glass has been blessed with a federal tax credit.  For that reason Anderson — and probably most other window companies — have gone to a "one size fits all" glass, whether the product is sold in the North or South, so that all their customers qualify for the tax credit (up to $1,500, I think).  The challenge for us, then, is to see if Anderson can make my windows with the appropriate UV-admitting glass... if they can provide evidence that the proper glass has been installed when the windows are delivered to the site (good luck getting a change after installation)... and if such windows will qualify for a tax credit (I'm betting they won't).

Here's a revealing insight into how well the U.S. is doing in the area of energy policy.  You get a tax credit for appropriate glazing in the South, but not for appropriate glazing in the North.  The purpose of this tax credit, as I understand it, is to reduce fossil fuel use, not to keep the chintz on your sofa in like-new condition.  But that's not what the tax credit actually encourages in the Northern Tier!  In the North, it actually incentivizes fossil fuel use!  Clearly, the center of political gravity in the U.S. is in the South.  And clearly, energy policy is being made by people who do not understand energy conservation in any depth.  We have a long way to go, folks. •••