In mixed climates like Washington D.C.’s, it’s important for your windows to combat both hot and cold weather. Typically, if you purchase ENERGY STAR windows that qualify for the federal energy efficiency income tax credit, you’ll achieve a level of efficiency that will be able to hold up and save energy in varying temperatures.

The federal tax credit requires that windows have a U factor and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of 0.3 or less. The credit is equal to 30 percent up to $1,500 of the cost of the windows. If you don’t use the whole credit, make other energy efficiency upgrades to qualify for the rest of the credit with measures including added insulation, HVAC upgrades, roofing, water heater replacements and more.

If you’d like an idea of what other energy efficiency measures would be beneficial in your home, check out our online energy audit calculator. This energy estimator will tell you how your home is performing, give you some energy efficiency upgrade suggestions and calculate an estimate of how much you can save by implementing the upgrades. Some of these other measures may also qualify for local utility rebates. Unfortunately, we are unaware of any local utility rebates for windows.