Effect of demand-side management on the feasibility of high-performance windows

Abstract

The thermal performance of windows has been remarkably improved over the recent years. Despite their high energy savings, most of these windows cannot penetrate into markets due to their high initial costs. In this paper, it is shown how some of these windows can be economically feasible for the consumers if carefully designed demand-side management is applied. In North Cyprus, double-glazing windows with argon or krypton in between is not feasible under business-as-usual conditions. However, if a rebate programme is devised in such a way that the NPV and SIR values of the feasibility analysis just exceed 0 and I respectively the consumers may be interested in these windows. The deferred power capacities in case these windows were purchased by the home owners would be between 30.6 and 38.7 MW. It is important that the total cost of the rebate program does not exceed the total cost of the equivalent power unit deferred. In our analysis it was also estimated that the electricity board, KIB-TEK, would make a saving in the order of 70 million YTL (Turkish Liras).