Double Glazing On The Web

I know they won’t fit in a stocking, they don’t smell fancy and you certainly can’t wear them, but you’d be surprised how many people are getting them for Christmas.

It seems the credit crunch has left people disillusioned with Christmas; the same old rubbish and useless gift packs flood back into the shops and we find ourselves buying for the sake of buying, recycling the novelty hot chocolate kit or fragranced cooking oil, careful not to give it back to the person we received it from last year… it’s not even the money anymore, although that’s certainly important, it’s more seeing through the sheer nonsense of it all.

Seen in this light, it’s easy to see why couples in particular, are forgoing the usual exchange of gifts and pooling their money instead for more practical purchases such as energy efficient windows. Sounds boring I know, but the benefits are permanent: reduced carbon foot print, reduced waste energy, reduced energy bills, kinder to the environment, home improvement… the list goes on.

Practical? Absolutely. Exciting? Certainly not, but then they’re not going to be left at the back of the draw until next Christmas either. Just make sure you talk it over with the wife before swapping the Channel for the upvc!

With the world’s leaders meeting in Copenhagen this December for the UN summit on Climate Change, the government is coming under increasing pressure to meet our CO2 emissions targets. Frankly, as a leading developed nation, the UK’s performance to date has been shameful. Therefore The Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) are gaining support for their petitioning of the government to introduce a Windows Scrappage Scheme.

If granted the scheme would operate in a similar fashion to the controversial (and not very green) vehicle scrappage scheme, effectively allowing householders and landlords to renew old and badly fitted windows with a cash incentive of £1000, providing it is used to buy professionally installed, energy efficient double glazing.

With the glazing industry currently representing in the region of 100,000 jobs, it is hoped that as well as reducing CO2 emissions, it would also boost employment figures, not to mention reducing consumer’s energy bills.

The petition is available on the official website of the Prime Minister: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/windowscrappage.

Fact: Double glazing increases the energy efficiency of your home, therefore reducing climate change and your energy bills.

Problem: The government recognise this fact and in a desperate attempt to reach their target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from home heating by 29 per cent, there are rumours circulating that homes without double glazing could end up falling into higher council tax bands as a green penalty.

This appears to be countermanded by similar rumours concerning a detailed tax on properties, which takes into account views, conservatories and … you guessed it Double Glazing!

Does the term ‘dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t’ spring to mind?

In a recent article for The Guardian, Peter Tatchell strongly pushed the policies of the Green Party. Stating unequivocally that; “the Greens are now the most progressive force in British politics, with a visionary agenda for grassroots democracy, social justice, human rights, global equity, environmental protection, peace and internationalism.”

The article continued to offer up the Green Party as a replacement to the current labour government and laid out some clear-cut suggestions as to how they would deal the with current economic crisis facing the country whilst simultaneously fighting climate change. It seems the creation of ‘Green Collar’ jobs it at the heart of tackling unemployment:

“We would put money into energy conservation, which would lead to tens of thousands of jobs in double-glazing, loft insulation and the fitting of energy efficient boilers. This would also help cut fuel poverty and reduce household energy bills.”

It seems that good double glazing not only saves you money and does wonders for your green credentials, but it is also winning votes!

PVC is low in its use of resources. Its production costs are moderate and it has low maintenance requirements. The PVC Aware campaign has been launched, primarily targeting the public sector, to promote the environmental benefits of PVC when used for window frames etc…

Surprising as this might be to some people, PVC does have genuine green credentials, being 100% recyclable. A quote from the  campaign website reads: “PVC, especially when used in such products as window and door frames, may be continuously recycled in a closed loop with the recycled material being used again and again in new window frames and other building products.”

PVC Aware campaign is also being supported by the Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) who congratulated the organizers on providing customers with the necessary facts to make an informed choice, rather than relying on often media generated ill-formed opinion.

PVC window frames received an A+ rating in the BRE Green Guide www.thegreenguide.org.uk

A national campaign backed by Grand Designs Magazine, The Energy Saving Trust, The UK Green Building Council and The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), has been launched by TV property expert Kevin McCloud.
The campaign aims to encourage Britons to make their properties more energy efficient by promoting the benefits of measures such as fitting double glazing or loft insulation.

Campaigners hope to call on the public to petition the government to do more to help finance green refurbishments. TV presenter Mr McCloud insists that much more needs to be done to reduce carbon emissions from the residential sector if the target of 80% is ever to be achieved.

To find out more click here 

Just a heads up to readers in Crewe and Nantwich: I have just read that new planning regulations applying to new extensions (including conservatories) come into force in your area next Wednesday, 1st October, 2008.

These regulation changes seem pretty confusing to me because, whilst many extensions that have previously needed council permission can now be built without permission, some previously allowed developments now need planning permission.

Of relevance to this site: all conservatories or rear extensions over three metres in length will, from next Wednesday, require planning permission.

Read about these and other changes here

I’ve banged on a lot on this blog about the benefits to the environment (and your pocket) of double glazing.  Niggling away at the back of my mind, though, was something I read months ago about UPVC frames being bad for the environment.  I struggled to see how double glazing, something touted by all concerned in the world of the eco-warrior as having a positive effect on the environment, could also have a negative effect.  So, I decided to find out - what better thing to do on a rainy Saturday than research double glazing?

I found the following information on the negative aspects of UPVC (Vinyl to those of us who remember LPs, or long player records, to give them their full name):

• Production of UPVC is, apparently, hazardous
• UPVC is difficult to dispose and it is difficult to recycle

Then I found a uTube video by Dr Patrick Moore.  As a founding member of Greenpeace, I thought that his arguments, whether negative or positive, could be relied upon to be well informed and, indeed, they were.  And the estimable Dr Moore makes a case for UPVC double glazing. His argument is that, as UPVC has such a long life - 35 years with virtually no maintenance - the disposal issue is overstated.

And what about recycling?  Well perhaps it is difficult, but it is not impossible.  I did a little Googling and found Recovinyl, a pan-European organisation that provides financial incentives to support the collection of PVC waste.  The organisation’s literature states: (brackets mine)

It (PVC) is used to make long-lasting products, often with a life-expectancy exceeding 60 years. In addition to its longevity, PVC is a material perfectly fit for recycling after its use.

So, disposal and recycling of UPVC frames are not major issues, although they are issues that are ripe for new initiatives.

Manufacturing is an issue.  However, as double glazing the average property results in a reduction of approximately 740 kg a year in carbon dioxide production, it would seem that the benefits outweigh the problems.  In fact, if everyone in the UK who needed to install double glazing did so, 59,200 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions would be eradicated from the UK’s overall carbon footprint.

The Way Forward

So what conclusions did I come to on that rainy Saturday afternoon?

• UPVC double glazed windows are very beneficial to the environment - just look again at the CO2 reduction above
• UPVC can and, indeed, should be recycled.  A greater awareness of this fact and how to access the relevant  facilities needs to be encouraged in the general population
• Until a new, safe to manufacture, product has been developed, replacement of old windows with UPVC double glazing should be encouraged.

As we used to write at the end of a scientific experiment when I was at school QED!

The man from the met office has just told me that the first of the autumn storms is about to hit - and we haven’t even had summer yet!  If this is global warming, I don’t think much to it!  The man clicks his button and the map fills with rain clouds and falling temperatures.

If this is the trend, global warming is going to be good for the double glazing industry - it is in a climate such as this that double glazing and good, robust exterior doors really come into their own.  They keep the wet and the cold outside where it should be, so you can cosy up in the warmth that is home and family.

You know where to go, of course!