bfginger: Go with low-e glass and if possible a thermally broken frame for skylights or else they'll lose lots of heat.
Can't say I've noticed an issue with the two in my living area - Velux units are double-glazed, but are a timber/aluminium composite construction that has naturally low conductivity (as opposed to aluminium) so don't really benefit from a thermal break.
EDIT - just checked the Velux site, and their fixed skylights are all argon-filled/low-e anyway.
By comparison, all the wall-glass in my living area is thermally-broken/argon-filled/low-e - and if you're using aluminium joinery in a residential dwelling, you'd been a fool NOT to get thermally broken, as the conductivity of aluminium means it's a nightmare in terms of heat transfer/condensation. A friend of mine built last year and cheaped out on this, and he's gutted he didn't spend the extra.
By comparison, all the wall-glass in my living area is thermally-broken/argon-filled/low-e - and if you're using aluminium joinery in a residential dwelling, you'd been a fool NOT to get thermally broken, as the conductivity of aluminium means it's a nightmare in terms of heat transfer/condensation. A friend of mine built last year and cheaped out on this, and he's gutted he didn't spend the extra.
Funnily enough when we went to a window fabricator, they almost tried to talk us out of thermally broken frames, as they said the cost benefit vs the insulation benefits were minimal. But we said that it was the reduced condensation on the frame benefits we were interested in. They then said that they have been called back on windows where people were still getting condensation on their thermally broken windows. We did end up going with thermally broken ones even though I think they are about 20% more and time will tell if they do work out better.
By comparison, all the wall-glass in my living area is thermally-broken/argon-filled/low-e - and if you're using aluminium joinery in a residential dwelling, you'd been a fool NOT to get thermally broken, as the conductivity of aluminium means it's a nightmare in terms of heat transfer/condensation. A friend of mine built last year and cheaped out on this, and he's gutted he didn't spend the extra.
Funnily enough when we went to a window fabricator, they almost tried to talk us out of thermally broken frames, as they said the cost benefit vs the insulation benefits were minimal. But we said that it was the reduced condensation on the frame benefits we were interested in. They then said that they have been called back on windows where people were still getting condensation on their thermally broken windows. We did end up going with thermally broken ones even though I think they are about 20% more and time will tell if they do work out better.
The key thing is that, like you say, they're not heaps more expensive nowadays - a workmate built 5 years ago, and adding thermal breaks to his joinery pretty-much doubled the price. Interesting that they're try to talk you out of them - I guess there may be certain climates where the indoor/outdoor temp differential isn't massive, but in Dunedin, (specifically Mosgiel), it can get down to -5 late night/early morning, so you could have a 25 degree difference there, and any moisture in the air will be drawn to the cooler surfaces, even with heavy drapes. In our bedroom on really cold mornings, there's a slight line of moisture on the bottom of the window opposite the bed, but it clears in a matter of minutes once you open windows/blinds.
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