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Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Future Coach newsletter. This week, a new penguin species and the AI industry promises it's trustworthy. First I'll answer your question about whether today's windows are better than those of the past. You can leave me a voice message (click here and tap to record ☎️) or write me at futurecoach@washpost.com. I hope to hear from you soon.
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Replacement windows are installed in Virginia. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post) |
Christine in Switzerland asks: Temperatures were brutal this year. Are today’s windows much better than late-1990s double- or triple-paned ones? At what point does changing them make a difference? Windows are no longer just glass, wood and metal. They’re miniature climate-control systems. Double- or triple-paned windows have been available for decades, but even basic models have made major strides since the 1990s.
New metallic coatings on window glass act as thermal mirrors, reflecting solar infrared radiation outside before it heats your house. And new models also replace air with argon or krypton gas between panels to slow heat transfer. Warm-edge spacers, the strips that hold panes apart, cut heat loss and condensation at window edges. Finally, window seals wear out after 15 to 20 years. If your 1990s units look foggy, the seal likely leaked long ago. But new windows are not cheap: Pella, a major window maker, estimates typical installed prices for windows are $800 to $1,600 per window for vinyl and $1,100 to $2,200 or more for fiberglass or wood. A whole house may run between $10,000 and $20,000, or more. Because windows are pricey, recouping your investment on energy efficiency alone is unlikely. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that replacing old windows with Energy Star-certified ones lowers household energy bills by an average of up to 13 percent nationwide when replacing single-pane windows, or about $500 annually. The savings are less if replacing more modern windows. But you’re also investing in comfort, quiet, ease of cleaning and your home’s resale value. If you do replace, check out Consumer Reports for information on durability. For efficiency information, check out the Efficient Windows Collaborative and Energy Star’s windows program. Have a clear checklist of what you need, and confirm that an installer has good ratings before signing any contract. If you’re sticking with what you have, you still have options. Installing exterior blinds or shutters is a powerful defense against summer heat waves. (External shading can also reduce solar heat gain by up to 77 percent.) Just lower shutters early in the morning, then open everything back up at night to let in cool air. If the frames are solid, hire a glazier to retrofit low-e glass for a fraction of the price of a whole new window.
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The American landscape is transforming to meet AI’s insatiable demand for computer processing. The Washington Post examined satellite images to chronicle the ways projects like Meta’s planned Hyperion data center, which would dwarf Central Park, are reshaping where we live. |
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In my column this week on why you should junk your car but repair your phone, I promised to tell the tale of my first car’s untimely demise. Here it is. When I was in college, a group of us chartered a red double-decker bus that must have been shipped across the Atlantic after ending its useful life hauling tourists and commuters around London. That should have been a warning. After boarding, I watched the bus pull away with half of the group still on the sidewalk. I heard confused shouting as the bus, doors flung wide and with no one in the driver’s seat, began picking up speed, rolling down a hill faster and faster before swiping a row of parked cars and finally coming to stop by slamming into the side of a black Chevy Blazer. From the look on my friend’s face as I got off the bus, I knew: It was my car. The ancient bus’s emergency brake, apparently, had failed. Luckily, no one was hurt, even if my car ended up being the crash pad.
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💡 Reader Tips and Stories |
Most of you are fixers, not tossers. One reader said he had three Miele vacuums more than 20 years old: “They don’t break.” Given that vacuums are rarely used, this is a win, even if they’re not top-of-the-line models. Another reader fixed their fridge with a $12 part — bravo! — but the appliance is 31 years old. That makes the repair penny-wise and pound foolish, most likely, given that the efficiency gains from an always-on appliance would cover the cost of upgrading to a modern fridge. Many of you raised the issue of the cost of new machines or appliances and the fact that things don’t seem to last as long as they once did. “New refrigerators are designed to last [about] 10 years,” wrote Madeleine in Southern California. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to buy a new refrigerator every 10 years.” There’s no getting around it: We live in a disposable society. While evidence suggests many base model appliances are cheaper in real terms compared with the past, with comparable lifespans, the integration of electronics with little effort to aid repairability makes it extremely frustrating (and costly) when things go wrong. “What is a grave frustration is how appliances are not easily repaired or the cost of doing so is almost the same as replacement,” said Diana Davis. There is some help on the way from a raft of state right-to-repair laws. Independent benchmarks like iFixit’s repairability scores and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s “Failing the Fix” are a good starting point for anyone considering a new purchase. For now, we can look abroad for inspiration. In Switzerland, wrote Christine, repairs are easier. Many products have repairability disclosures and upgrades are incentivized: “We can currently deduct eco-efficient appliance purchases from our taxes.” I heard success stories from the United States, too. John of Baltimore traded his 20-year-old dishwasher for a six-year-old one at Second Chances, an architectural salvage store, where he donated the old one. (See how to recycle major appliances, find rebates for upgrading and organize local pickup.) For some, these decisions are emotional. Diane replaced a 20-year-old dishwasher with a wisp of regret: “I do miss the rusty, familiar racks.” You can also send feedback or ideas for what I should cover next using this form.
- New disclosures of rogue artificial intelligence agents from OpenAI keep coming, most recently revealing that some had inappropriately accessed public data from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Census Bureau. You can watch AI CEOs’ awkward chat with President Donald Trump in the White House driveway from Tuesday. The president urged the public to trust the AI industry to self-police, but today the Federal Trade Commission launched a broad investigation into the safety of the technology of Anthropic and OpenAI. Elsewhere in AI, former Microsoft chief executive Bill Gates warned that AI could cause “a billion deaths,” but at least it’s not killing jobs for college grads — yet. (The Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.)
- Crude oil shipments are moving through the Strait of Hormuz again at near prewar levels. But don’t expect fuel prices to fall anytime soon. Gas and diesel prices have fractured the MAGA coalition in farm country, but accelerated the clean energy transition in Europe: Electric-vehicle sales on the continent are booming, and Germany has mapped its phaseout of fossil fuels, following France and the Netherlands. Analysts expect $2.2 trillion to be invested in clean energy and electrification this year, nearly twice that sunk into fossil fuels. Here at home, a new congressional permitting bill to unlock new energy supplies won rave reviews from climate observers. (Reuters, The Post, Bloomberg, the Economist)
- Scientists identified a new species of penguin, the first in more than a century: Say hello to the southeastern gentoo, which lives in the Indian Ocean. On the East Coast, ospreys, one of America’s great wildlife recoveries, are starving in their nests as Atlantic menhaden disappear. In the Atlantic, no hurricanes may form this season, the first time in a century. And the night sky is getting 10 percent brighter every year, due to light pollution. (The Post, YaleEnvironment360, the Guardian)
- If you’d like some fall color, break up with your chrysanthemums this year. Millions of pots show up on porches across the country for a few weeks, then get tossed, says Homegrown National Park, a grassroots group that promotes biodiversity. Native asters bring the same daisy-like explosion of color but come back year after year while feeding pollinators and other insects during the lean autumn months.
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Send your questions to me at futurecoach@washpost.com. I read all your emails. See you next week, Michael Coren, Future Coach Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get The Future Coach in your inbox every Tuesday. |
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