Carbon reductions through optimized solar heat gain glass properties considering future climate and grid emissions: case study of Chicago's residential buildings

[2608.14832] Carbon reductions through optimized solar heat gain glass properties considering future climate and grid emissions: case study of Chicago's residential buildings Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Search arXiv Press Enter to search · Advanced search Computer Science > Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science arXiv:2608.14832 (cs) [Submitted on 14 Aug 2026] Title: Carbon reductions through optimized solar heat gain glass properties considering future climate and grid emissions: case study of Chicago's residential buildings Authors: Yiwei Lyu , Jialiang Xiang , Holly Samuelson View a PDF of the paper titled Carbon reductions through optimized solar heat gain glass properties considering future climate and grid emissions: case study of Chicago's residential buildings, by Yiwei Lyu and 2 other authors View PDF Abstract: Existing resources leave confusion over the benefits of high versus low Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) windows for energy performance in residential buildings retrofits in cold climates. Additionally, few studies have considered the impact of expected future climate conditions and time-variable grid emission rates on energy-related metrics. Utilizing the ResStock, residential building stock models from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), this study investigates retrofits increasing the SHGC of windows in Chicago, a cold US city. The results indicate that increasing window SHGC increases summer cooling needs; however, in most cases, this effect is more than offset by reduced winter heating needs. This balance is particularly beneficial considering the state's expected long-run marginal carbon emission rates. The study also examines the combined effects of high SHGC with improved window insulation values, demonstrating that such strategic window retrofits not only enhance overall building energy performance but also contribute to greater emission reductions. On average, the current Chicago residences (n = 4,826) save 4.6 % on heating and cooling carbon emissions by increasing the SHGC of the windows. If we assume that those homes are upgraded with heat pumps (electrification), a popular retrofit that reduces heating-related carbon emissions in particular, the increased window SHGC saves 2.5 % of long-run marginal carbon emissions. These results provide new insight into the carbon benefits of higher SHGC replacement windows in a cold climate. The benefits are significant, even considering future trends of a warming climate, higher demand grid emissions, and building electrification. Comments: 19 pages, 10 figures. Published in Energy and Buildings 327 (2025) 115080 Subjects: Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science (cs.CE) Cite as: arXiv:2608.14832 [cs.CE] (or arXiv:2608.14832v1 [cs.CE] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.14832 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Journal reference: Energy and Buildings 327 (2025) 115080 Related DOI : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2024.115080 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources Submission history From: Yiwei Lyu [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:08:11 UTC (3,443 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Carbon reductions through optimized solar heat gain glass properties considering future climate and grid emissions: case study of Chicago's residential buildings, by Yiwei Lyu and 2 other authors View PDF view license Current browse context: cs.CE < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-08 Change to browse by: cs References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... 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