How Double Glazing Improves Liveability in Cold Climates

Winter has hit Australia, bringing frosty mornings and heating systems running at full capacity all season long. During these colder months, maintaining a comfortable, energy-efficient home becomes essential, and your windows have a much greater impact on this than many homeowners realise.

Homeowners across Australia frequently struggle with soaring heating costs and persistently cold rooms. This frustration is widespread, prompting designers and builders to continuously seek effective solutions. Surprisingly, the root of this problem often lies not with a heating system, but with windows and their quality.

Understanding this connection is the first step toward creating a more comfortable living environment.

What is glazing? 

Here's a startling fact: windows can be responsible for gaining up to 87% of a home's heating energy while simultaneously losing up to 40% of it. This dramatic energy exchange happens through the window's glazing system.

Glazing consists of all the glass components, protective films, and framing systems that make up your windows. The specific type of glazing installed in a home directly influences both comfort levels and energy consumption. When glazing is poorly designed or inadequately thick, substantial heat loss occurs. Conversely, well-engineered, substantial glazing systems can dramatically reduce energy waste.

There are three main glazing categories: single, double, and triple configurations, each bringing distinct advantages and limitations. While glazing performance is particularly crucial during winter months, these systems actually improve energy efficiency year-round across all climate conditions.

What are single glazed windows?

Throughout Australia, countless traditional homes feature single glazed windows, constructed with just one glass pane separating indoor and outdoor environments. These windows remain common across the country, though their thin construction provides minimal thermal protection. This design allows heat to flow freely outward, making it challenging to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures.

Performance improvements are possible by retrofitting single glazed windows with advanced glass types, particularly low emissivity (low-e) varieties that offer enhanced energy efficiency. Despite these potential upgrades, transitioning to double glazed alternatives typically delivers superior results.

What are double glazed windows?

During the 1980s, double glazing windows started popping up across Australia, as homeowners and builders sought solutions for excessive heat loss and climbing energy expenses. Double glazed windows work well because they feature two glass panes with an insulating gas barrier between them, typically filled with argon, krypton, or xenon. This gas layer significantly reduces heat transfer between a home's interior and exterior, keeping the warm air in and cold air out.

Beyond their thermal benefits, these windows excel at minimising condensation formation and provide excellent sound dampening, effectively blocking traffic noise and urban sounds that would otherwise penetrate into a living space. With reduced condensation, there is less mould growth on the windows, helping you stay healthier and happier. Designing a home with double glazed windows is an important factor for the modern housing market.

What factors influence how well double glazed windows perform?

Several elements determine the effectiveness of double glazed windows, and understanding these factors helps a builder or homeowner looking to renovate understand why double glazed are best to implement: 

The type of glazing used

The glazing type plays a key role in window performance. Manufacturers often combine various glass types including clear, tinted, and low-e options to achieve specific performance characteristics. 

1. Clear glass: maximises natural light entry but provides limited thermal protection. 

2. Tinted glass varieties: excel at reducing glare and controlling solar heat gain, making them particularly suitable for Australia's sunnier regions.

3. Low-e glass: incorporates specialised coatings that reflect heat while permitting natural light passage, helping maintain warmer interiors during winter and cooler conditions in summer.

   
   

The orientation of the home

Each home's directional orientation makes all the difference. The amount of daily sunlight exposure each window receives determines which glazing options will perform best. 

1. For example, north-facing windows in Australia receive steady sunlight throughout the day, making them ideal candidates for double glazed units with low-e coatings that welcome natural light while preventing heat loss. 

2. In comparison, west-facing windows endure intense afternoon sun exposure, where double glazing combined with solar control glass helps prevent excessive heat buildup that single glazing cannot adequately manage.

   
   

The type of gas between the glass panes

Thermal performance depends heavily on your window gas. There are three main ones that most builders or homeowners pick from: argon, krypton, and xenon.

1. Argon remains the most popular choice, offering an excellent balance between performance and affordability. 

2. Krypton provides superior insulation due to its higher density compared to argon. 

3. Xenon delivers the ultimate thermal performance level, though this premium option comes with increased costs. 

   
   

The width and sealing of the cavity

Cavity dimensions and sealing quality are as equally important as the gas pick. 

• Cavity width: The space between glass panes often varies from 6 to 18 mm, with 12-16 mm as the optimal range. Gaps that are too narrow increase heat transfer, while oversized gaps can create air circulation that diminishes insulation effectiveness. Cavity size can greatly affect both thermal and acoustic performance. 

• Sealing: Proper sealing makes sure the cavity remains moisture-free and airtight. Spacer materials, whether metal or polymer-based, maintain the correct gap distance while absorbing any residual moisture.

When all these components come together in a well-designed system, double glazing windows deliver homes exceptional performance.

How does double glazing improve liveability in colder climates?

As winter temperatures arrive, maintaining comfortable indoor warmth becomes a household priority. 

Double glazed windows improve comfort through their superior insulation design that drastically reduces heat loss. The combination of thicker glass and insulating gas creates a barrier that keeps indoor air from escaping, resulting in warmer winter interiors and cooler summer conditions. It also helps to reduce excess mould from growing due to the condensation building up.

Luckily, an improved thermal control translates directly into reduced energy consumption and lower heating and cooling expenses. Reaching this comfort is better for budgets and homes, because rather than wasting energy and money through inefficient windows, households are able to save on both fronts while reducing their carbon footprint.

Why isn’t double glazing as widespread in Australia as it could be?

Determining precise statistics on how many homes have double glazed windows installed across Australia isn’t easy, but available evidence suggests they remain far from standard practice. 

Current data indicates that only 19% of new homes include high-performance windows and just 11% of existing homes have undergone upgrades. These figures fall well below adoption rates in countries like the UK or Germany, where double glazing is commonplace and often mandated by building regulations.

There are a variety of reasons why there’s been a limit to Australia's double glazing adoption: 

1. Higher initial investment costs may deter homeowners and builders 

2. New construction projects rarely include double glazing as a standard feature, treating it instead as an optional upgrade

3. Many Australians continue relying on traditional heating and cooling systems rather than addressing thermal efficiency 

4. There are fewer local manufacturers and suppliers compared to other countries

   
   

However, this is starting to change. With rising energy costs, increased focus on sustainability, and improved access to quality products, double glazing is becoming an increasingly popular choice among homeowners and builders.

Avoid thermal weak spots with double glazing

Windows represent significant thermal weak points where heat easily transfers between indoor and outdoor environments. Given that heating and cooling systems account for approximately 40% of energy consumption in typical Australian homes, window upgrades can create noticeable improvements in overall energy performance.

Double-glazed windows represent a substantial long-term investment, engineered to provide reliable service for over 50 years. Quality systems, like ours at Miglas, offer exceptional durability, require minimal maintenance, incorporate innovative design features, and deliver consistent performance that makes the investment create returns for decades.

Check out the wide variety of styles we offer at Miglas or contact us to get connected with one of our window specialists.