What on earth are “Eco-Friendly Window & Doors”?

Your choice of new energy efficient windows and doors for your home will make a real difference to both your property and the world around you. How? Well, according to the Energy Saving Trust, nearly a fifth of heat lost from un-insulated homes can be through the windows. By making a significant reduction to the amount of heat lost through your windows and doors you will be reducing the amount of energy you use to keep your home warm, plus save you money.

The technology used to design modern replacement windows and doors has tackled the key issues that have a major impact on how effective your windows and doors are at keeping your property warm. The main consideration has been to reduce the heat that is lost through poorly insulated windows and doors.

Discerning homeowners appreciate that despite the fact that the new Building Regulations legally require both property owners and installers to fit thermally efficient products, there remains a variance in the quality of windows and doors available in the UK today. Recent technological advances now mean that the latest â€ŔA” rated fenestration products far out perform the majority of double glazed windows already installed, good news for reducing carbon emissions, the environment and household running costs.

Each part of a window or door contributes to its overall insulation. From the quality and design of the seals; to the thermal performance of the frames and to the type of double glazed unit used. Windows and doors with the largest expanse of glass will naturally allow more light into a home and therefore these rooms can benefit from ‘solar gain’. Heat gained in this way reduces your reliance on central heating to warm your home.

By choosing the best performing windows and doors you can help make a real difference eco-wise, whilst saving on running costs for years to come. So how does one recognise the best performing double glazing systems? Well, under the guise of the British Fenestration Rating Council, the Government introduced ‘Window Energy Ratings’ (WER’s) to make it easier for homeowners to identify the most energy-efficient windows.

In the same way that fridges, freezers, washing machines and other household appliances carry the widely recognised energy efficiency labels, the windows you buy for your home must now be labelled to prove that they will comply with the new higher energy efficiency set out in the Building Regulations that came into effect on 1st October 2010.

Window Energy Ratings can be applied to any window system that has been fully independently assessed. This assessment gives each window system a rating – where ‘A’ is the most energy efficient and ‘C’ is the least. Run a mile if offered any replacement window product that has a lesser rating as it is illegal and your will not get a FENSA certificate, as proof that what your installer fitted complies with the new Building Regulations. Homeowners that want the most energy efficient windows should opt for the highest Window Energy Rating possible.

A window energy rating of ‘C’ or a maximum combined U-Value of 1.6 W/m2K is now the new minimum legal standard for replacement windows. U-value is a measure of thermal efficiency, where the lower the figure, the greater the level of efficiency. Some double glazing suppliers may say their product achieves a centre-pane U-Value of 1.2 W/m2K. However, don’t be duped, as it is the overall combined U-Value of the window frame material, internal spacer bars, gaskets and double glazed sealed units that matters.

Frankly most UK made sealed units without any frame can achieve a 1.2 W/m2K centre pane U-Value, so for the most thermally efficient products ensure you ask to see the energy rated certificate for the particular combination of glass, frames and components you are being offered to check they have been independently verified as collectively achieving the thermal efficiency required by law.

According to the Energy Saving Trust, double glazing cuts heat lost through windows by half and installing Energy Saving Recommended double glazing can save around £110 a year on your heating bills. Double glazing can save a household around 720kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year.

Concern over the environment is making homeowners far more aware than ever of the value of energy efficient windows. Consequently independent double glazing manufacturers Hazlemere Windows only fabricates, supplies and installs products with the highest possible energy ratings, plus offers an â€ŔA” rated aluminium replacement window recommended and approved by the Energy Saving Trust.

WER’s and low U-Values are the clearest indication of how well a window system performs in terms of insulation. Quite simply, the higher the rating, the more energy efficient the window is so the greater the thermal performance the more energy saved, saving you money on your heating bills too.

Modern double glazing can assist the environment, particularly if the external glass pane is specified as self-cleaning glass. Most contemporary self cleaning products feature a dual action that harnesses the forces of nature to keep the glass free from organic dirt, providing a surface that requires less cleaning, whilst also at the same time delivering clearer, better-looking glass. Designed to last for the life-time of your windows, doors, conservatory or orangery, self-cleaning glass is an excellent long term investment, as over a period it will save time and money, plus from the cleaning standpoint it is far safer than ordinary glass, particularly for hard to reach roof lantern light windows, conservatory or orangery roofs.

It isn’t always easy to understand what we can do to reduce our ‘carbon footprint’, however as members of the Energy Saving Trust Hazlemere Windows want to ‘do our bit’. We are pragmatic enough to realise that we cannot change the world, but we do believe that how we operate our business can make a significant difference over time.

We are focused on recycling as much of the waste that we as a business generate and are always looking for more ways to reduce the impact our business has on the environment. The windows and doors we remove from our customers’ homes are broken down into recyclable and non-recyclable materials, so that we effectively reduce what we send to landfill; wherever possible we print on recycled paper; we collect all of our cardboard waste and return it for recycling; to save paper we ensure that most of our brochures are available to view on-line; we source many of our materials from UK manufacturers to keep transportation to a minimum and, perhaps most importantly, we offer our customers genuinely eco-friendly windows and doors.

As well as offering superb thermal performance, Hazlemere aluminium eco-friendly windows and doors are infinitely recyclable. According to ALFED (Aluminium Federation), up to 98% of the aluminium in a building can be reclaimed for recycling at the end of its life.

Around 60% of the world’s primary aluminium is smelted using power generated from hydro-electric plants, which is in turn a natural and renewable energy source. This power does not produce harmful emissions but nonetheless the industry has further driven the use of aluminium obtained from ‘secondary’ or recycled material which requires just 5% of the original energy used during primary production.

We have found the Energy Saving Trust website to be an invaluable source of information for homeowners wishing to reduce the impact their activities make on the environment. You can visit them online at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

To find out more about environmentally friendly windows and doors from experienced experts freephone 0500 011561 or see them on display at Hazlemere’s 8,000 square feet home improvement showroom in High Wycombe.
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