Fall weather is being extended, at least for a few more days, offering me a chance to insulate my windows. A few years ago when I discovered, in the process of making the five-pane window inserts for the sun room, that it was the ‘Air’, not the plastic, that was insulating the windows, I set out to add plastic on each side of the storm windows in my house. Thus there were two more air pockets to the windows transforming them from double-pane, regular window and storm window, to four-pane windows.

However, now after two years of service the layer of plastic on the outside of some of the storms is getting loose. I had materials to do a couple but had a hard time finding the cold clear plastic needed to finish the job. I noticed that some of the plastic insulation kits for windows say save up to $20 a window by adding one layer of plastic. If that is right by adding two layers as well as the storm I should be saving $40 or more a window.

The idea that air insulates has been around for a long time but I still find it fascinating how people think it is the plastic or insulation, not the air pockets that insulate. I need to pull out my children’s story about the Hare, Hair and Air and perhaps now try to get it illustrated.

Insulating by air pockets is not too exciting and is simple, but it works. As the authors of Super Freaknomics have shown that often the most complicated problems can be solved simply. It can be simple as AIR.

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