Reasons to Buy People replace windows for a variety of reasons. Old, single-pane, heat-leakingunits cry out for replacement. And so, too, do cheaply constructed vinylwindows, says Jim Ebel, president of Energy Efficient Construction — theTrenton, Mich. company replaces them all the time with wood or vinylbrands.

Contractors across the country agree that stemming heat loss (or intensifyingthe efficiency of air conditioning in hot climates) remains the big reasonconsumers buy. And it just got bigger. Ebel estimates that about 10% of hiscustomers purchase their windows with one thing in mind: saving energy.

“They want to do something to make the house more efficient and, typically, windowsare one of the main things they do,” he says.

But in addition, consumers “increasingly replace windows not only at theend of their useful life spans, but also to improve the home’s appearanceor energy efficiency,” says the Freedonia study of the window market.

John Gorman, owner of Save Energy Co., in Petaluma, Calif., points out that “curbappeal and functionality” remain his buyers’ primary interests. “Eitherthey want windows that are beautiful and that work, orthey’re just sick of their old windows,” he says.

Functionality is what’s driving consumer interest in hurricane or impact windows — agrowing market segment, though a regional one. Hurricane windows — designedto withstand flying debris — came on the marketin the aftermath of the major storms of the early ’90s and the far more stringentbuilding codes (in places such as Dade and Miami counties) that followed. Ineffect, weather created a whole new market for replacement windows.

One window manufacturer in the northeast says replacement windows are hot fortwo reasons: “Customers and lawmakers will drive this from the Gulfstates all the way up the East Coast to Maine,” he says. In addition, “insurancecompanies can’t keep taking these storm-related losses.”