Earth Day was celebrated on Sunday, and for the door, window and residential construction industries, it was an important reminder of the role that fenestration products play in the energy efficiency of buildings, which consume 70 percent of the electricity in the U.S. at a cost of more than $500 billion per year.

There’s strong evidence that focusing on thermal efficiency in the building envelope is paying off. By 2016, the increase in energy-efficient windows in U.S. homes between the late 1980s and late 2000s helped cut the share of household energy being used to heat and cool the interior from 61 percent to 48 percent, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

With that in mind, here’s a look at how specific companies marked Earth Day, plus some research on the affordability of “green” features such as windows in residential housing.

Windows, Vinyl and Trim

Intus Windows of Fairfax, VA, used Earth Day to launch a program called One Window, One Tree. The company says that for every door or window sold for architectural projects, it will plant a tree to further offset the structure’s carbon footprint. By 2030, Intus says it could be planting 2 million trees in the U.S. every year.

The company says its goal is to offset carbon emissions enough to recover the absorption rate of 5 billion trees by 2036. This will be accomplished through sales of its energy-efficient doors and windows combined with the new tree planting program. The program includes tree planting and reforestation, as well as beautification projects and sustainability education.

In honor of Earth Day, Andersen noted that Green Builder Media readers recently ranked it as the greenest brand among door and window manufacturers in North America for the seventh year in a row.

The annual Reader’s Choice brand survey recognizes the products and brands that green building professionals perceive as the most sustainable, innovative and high performing. Of readers participating in the survey, 23.6 percent named Andersen as the company that offers the greenest fenestration products.

“We take pride in the fact that our products add beauty and style to the spaces where our customers live, work and play, along with the peace of mind that comes with enhanced energy efficiency, durability, comfort and healthy indoor air quality,” said Grant Davis, vice president and general manager of Andersen’s Residential and Commercial Pro Division.

The theme of Earth Day 2018 is End Plastic Pollution, and the vinyl industry  is taking lots of steps to do just that, according to the Vinyl Institute, which says that post-consumer recycling of vinyl is up 40 percent since 2014. Because of that Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent Municipal Solid Waste Report says vinyl represents only 0.8 percent of all materials found in landfills.

Azek Building Products, a leading maker of moulding and trim, noted its efforts to keep plastics out of landfills on Earth Day.

“Azek owns proprietary, state-of-the-art manufacturing that turns recycled plastics into high-performance materials,” said Bruce Stanhope, vice president, research and development, Azek Building Products.  “It allows us to accept materials that most manufacturers cannot work with, which highlights our commitment to the environment.”

For example, the company says its TimberTech decking is on a path toward a 100 percent recycled core. Currently, the wood content in TimberTech decking is 100 percent recycled, certified for sustainable forestry and is 100 percent from the U.S., providing protection to the tropical rainforests.

Green Housing: It Isn’t Always Expensive

Homes with eco-friendly features do not always command a premium price tag in today’s hot housing market, according to an Earth Day-timed analysis from realtor.com.

Realtor.com looked at current listings in the top 200 U.S. metros to determine the market availability of “green” homes with any of seven eco-friendly features, such as dual-pane windows. It then evaluated how much more – or less – these homes may cost a prospective homebuyer.