I will probably read this post tomorrow and pull it. I just came in from a midday bike ride during which I thunk things. Before my ride I was poking around the Thermotech windows web site. Thermotech makes very nice triple glazed, orientation tunable (heat gain) windows that work very nicely in our primarily heating local climate. I would love to use them on a project but they cost 1/2 again as much as Marvin Integrity windows which are also very good windows but only double glazed and designed to block solar heat gain. So on a typlical 300 or 400k house that means 30-40 k in windows versus 20 to 30k. This is the grumbly architect part: Clients typically come to me with a budget and a non-negotiable wish list. Sometimes (usually) the two are incompatible. Always the client says "I want to go green!" Always the first thing to go is the triple glazed windows, not the third bath or the granite countertops. When it comes down to it, very few people are really willing to "go green" if it affects their desired lifestyle.