Energy efficiency is an increasingly important credential for American homeowners. The cost of electricity and gas continues to rise each year, and there's a growing awareness of how energy consumption negatively impacts the natural environment. These two factors have lead to many people auditing the energy efficiency of their homes and making the changes required to create a home with lower energy consumption.

There are many factors that contribute to overall energy efficiency of a home. One of these factors is the windows. Traditional windows are one of the main contributors to heat transfer in a home. Heat transfer is essentially the movement of hot or cold air from the inside of a home to the outside environment and vice versa.

Replacing the windows in your home can make a massive contribution to your home's energy efficiency rating. If you're planning on replacing your windows, here are two glazing attributes you should consider for your new windows.

1. Double glazing

Most traditional windows and many newly installed windows consist of a single panel of glazing. If you'd like to up the energy conservation stakes of your new windows, then opting for double glazing instead is a wise choice. Double glazing can reduce the amount of heat loss or gain via your windows by around 30%, which is a fairly hefty improvement.

Essentially, double glazing means using two panels of glass instead of one. The panels are installed into the window frame with a small space between them. This pocket of air acts as a thermal barrier, which prevents heat from escaping or entering your home. In regions that experience very hot summers or very cold winters, an inert gas is often pumped into the sealed space to increase the insulation properties of the double glazing.

2. Low-e glazing

Another way that you can make your new windows more energy efficient is to increase the R-value of the glazing you use. R-value is the term used to evaluate the thermal resistance of a building material that is intended for insulation purposes and applies to glazing as well as wall and ceiling insulation products.

Glass has an inherently low R-value, but you can increase this dramatically by choosing the right glazing. A popular choice for energy conscious homeowners is Low-e glass. Low-e stands for low emmissivity, and you can buy glass that has been manufactured with an incredibly thin layer of either polymer of metal on one surface. While this layer doesn't impact on the light that passes through the glass, it effectively repels both heat and UV rays.

If you're looking for options to improve your home's energy efficiency, you could try these out. Contact a local window company to learn more.