Philadelphia Inquirer, February 26, 2014

“Pam Clifton, the property manager of the Ellington condominiums at 1500 Chestnut St., opened her mail last week and got a kind of triple-play utility deal – not one she wanted.

The monthly steam bill from Veolia Energy to heat the 21-story building she manages was $54,860 – triple the previous month’s.

“We’ve never had anything like this before,” she said. “It’s brutal.”

Veolia said Tuesday that it was sending letters to many of its 300 customers on the Center City steam loop blaming the bills on unprecedented volatility in natural gas markets, caused by January’s extremely cold weather.” continue reading…

According to the National Institute Of Building Design’s Whole Building Design Guide (WBDG),  “…heat losses and gains through windows in residential and commercial buildings cost the United States $20 billion (one-fourth of all the energy used for space heating and cooling).”

Further, the WBGD estimates that “…[in] commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings, properly specified fenestration systems have the potential to reduce lighting and HVAC costs 10%-40%.”

With an estimated 2 billion plus square feet of single-glazed commercial buildings in the United States alone, and a the continuing upswing in energy prices, now is the best time to re-evaluate your window retrofit strategy.