Your new home

Windows in new buildings

What do I need to know? What are the best windows?

You're building a house: It should be your dream home! There are lots of decisions to make – decisions that will shape your standard of living for years and decades to come. This is particularly true of your choice of windows! After all, windows have a major impact on the feel-good factor of your home: especially when it comes to safety, ventilation, design and, above all, heat insulation. Window systems by aluplast offer all of this and more. Find out for yourself! You won't regret it.

Terminology for the new building sector

EnEV: When planning new buildings in Germany, the maximum admissible total energy consumption for a house/flat specified in the German EnEV (Energy Conservation Regulation) has to be taken into account. The EnEV does not specify any precise values for windows as an individual component. Nevertheless, the U-value (1.3 W/m²K) used in the sample building set out in the EnEV has become the standard upper threshold for windows.

KfW: The promotional programmes offered by KfW (a German bank specialising in development) requires energy consumption to be lower than the figures set out in the current German EnEV (Energy Conservation Regulation). Reaching this level entitles builders to certain funding options offered by KfW, such as reduced-interest loans. In principle, these programmes have replaced home funding measures in Germany and increased demand in KfW funding programmes (see also www.kfw.de).

Passive house: Passive houses are buildings that are not equipped with any conventional heating systems.To generate warmth, passive houses often use energy from the sun's rays, for example by fitting large windows along the southern facade. They tend not to have any windows on the north-facing side or, if they do, the windows tend to be very small as very few solar gains are available. A range of specifications relating to window design apply to passive houses. For example, KfW requires a maximum Uw-value of 0.8 W/m²K to be eligible for funding while the privately-run Passive House Institute by Dr. Feist defines additional requirements for individual components, which often increase the price of these elements. The ift (the German Institute for Window Technology) has also published a new policy for passive-house windows, which is more or less the average of the two standards described above. For window fabricators, it is important to note which variant is required, as the requirements in the tender information must be fulfilled regardless of other alternatives.

Zero-energy houses: In contrast to passive houses, zero-energy houses go one better when it comes to their energy footprint. This means they generally consume the amount of energy that has been produced.

Plus-energy houses: Prefabricated home companies are already offering plus-energy houses. This term refers to houses that generate more energy than they need for normal use so that any extra can be fed back into the mains network, for example. These houses are insulated in accordance with passive house standard but include additional technology (photovoltaic plants, etc.).

System recommendations for new buildings

Other systems suitable for new buildings

It almost goes without saying that our low construction depth systems are ideal for your new home; energeto® 4000, energeto® 5000, IDEAL 4000 and IDEAL 5000 are all suitable for this area. Find out more about these systems on the relevant product pages.

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