Heat escaping through windows can account for up to 30% of the total heat loss from a house, by installing energy efficient windows to your home you can significantly reduce the heat loss from your home , which will save money as well as reducing CO2 emissions.

Window designers have had to face new challenges from those of our forefathers. The basic requirement to keep wind and rain out and let the light in remains the same, but today we have new concerns , for example global warming.

Back in 1865 , Thomas Stetson patented the first double glazed sealed unit using two sheets of glass with a timber packer coated in tar, he wasn’t concerned about global warming , just with keeping the heat inside his log cabin !

It took until the early 1970s before conservation of energy became an issue , before then resources where plentiful ,prices where low wastage and usage where accepted and unmeasured. Today the world has new demands and does not have infinite resources and we must all conserve the heat we produce, the energy in doing so and slow the rise in CO2 emissions.

Window Energy Ratings

At Niddal Windows we take the conservation of heat and the reduction of CO2 emissions seriously and are pleased to announce a range of energy efficient windows to compliment our already comprehensive range of products.

Double glazed windows can now be rated using a scale of A – G , much in the same way as white goods such as washing machines and fridges etc,

A being the most efficient and G being the poorest performer .

These ratings are called the Window Energy Ratings ( WER )

The testing is carried out on the whole window , not just the glass, and comes in three parts .

1 ) Window Thermal Transmittance ( U – value )

This measures how good a window is at preventing heat escaping.

2 ) Window Solar Factor ( G- value )

The measurement of how much heat a window can gain from sunlight

3) Window Air Leakage ( L50 – Value )

This measures the air leakage / heat loss from the window frame.

Savings

It has been calculated ,at current prices,( Sept 08 ), that by replacing single glazed timber windows with energy rated double glazed PVCu windows the following cost and emissions savings could be made over a 35 year period.

E rated - £ 3,995.00 ( £ 115.00 per year ) and a reduction of 24 tonnes of CO2.

C rated - £ 5,530.00 ( £160.00 per year ) and a reduction of 30 tonnes of CO2

A rated - £6,580.00 ( £190.00 per year ) and a reduction of 60 tonnes of CO2

C rated windows can reduce the amount of energy lost through the windows in an average home by up to 70% and an A rated window by up to 90% .

That’s the equivalent to running 9 televisions for a year , driving 600 miles in an average sized car or making 34,000.00 cups of tea !

Environmentally Friendly

PVCu is not only energy efficient but is also a recyclable material.

At Niddal all PVCu waste is collected, refined and used back into more PVCu based products such as garden furniture.

Continually bringing this recycled material back into use gives the PVCu a potential lifespan of 400 years, making PVCu one of the most sustainable materials used in the building industry.

Since PVCu was first extruded, lead has been used as a stabilizer, however just as lead in paint and petrol is undesirable so it is with PVCu .

Niddal casement windows are now lead free as they are manufactured using Calcium as an organic substitute for lead in the window profile, another step to helping the environment.