In 2009 the Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) petitioned the Government to introduce a national windows scrappage scheme, whereby householders would be encouraged to scrap their old poorly insulated windows in return for a £1000 grant towards the installation of new, professionally installed, energy efficient ones.
The petition has been signed by over 4,000 people to date, via ePetition, on the Official website of the Prime Minister’s Office – number10.gov.uk.
The GGF maintains that consumers would save approximately £1000 and enjoy a facelift to their homes, as well as lowering fuel bills and becoming more energy efficient homes. The Government would also benefit from reduced emissions from the existing housing stock, helping it to meet the necessary greenhouse gas emissions targets. In addition that would also reclaim some of the grant money in VAT.
GGF chief executive, Nigel Rees, is encouraged by a similar scheme that has been launched in the heating industry, where home owners receive a £400 grant to install an energy-efficient boiler. Replacing a home’s single glazing with energy-efficient windows could save on average £150 and 0.3 tonnes of carbon!
“There are thousands of homes in the UK with single glazed windows, which could benefit from a scrappage scheme,” he said. “This would have numerous other benefits. Not only would the household save money in the long term, but the scheme would help the UK to meet its carbon emissions targets.”
See how Hazlemere home improvement’s energy rated windows can help reduce your carbon footprint, as well as imparting your support for the national windows scrappage scheme – saving us all energy and money in the long term.
For more information visit: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/windowscrappage
CATAGORY|Carbon Footprint, Saving Money
A Modern Double Glazed House
By installing modern energy saving double glazing we cut massively down the energy lost through single glazed windows. Fitting high quality thermally efficient double glazing saves money on heating during colder periods of the year as double glazing is designed to keep the warmth in as well as the cold out.
In addition, double glazing gives added security when installed in any property, as double glazed glass is a lot more difficult to break through, making the job of burglars more difficult. This is often down to toughened glass, combined with robust frames and locks.
House purchasers expect double glazed windows as a pre-requisite, not only for the above reasons, but the value and saleability they add to the property. Properties without modern energy efficient double glazing will not only have a poorer Energy Performance Certificate rating, but be less likely to sell for the full asking price, given the purchaser will have to factor in the amount of investment required to fit double glazing to make the property better insulated and secure, so if they do make an offer to buy, it is likely to be a much lower one than you would like if you have not invested in double glazing.
There is also the cost of on-going maintenance and redecoration, which is vastly reduced if double glazing is already fitted, as modern double glazed windows and doors require very little maintenance to keep them looking like new. All in all, why on earth would home owners not want energy saving double glazing that cuts heating bills down, insulates and protects the home, thereby making it a) warmer and safer, b) a better long term investment and c) consequently easier to sell in the future?
CATAGORY|Saving Energy, Saving Money, Windows & Doors
I was thrilled when the former Dr Who, Colin Baker, in his Bucks Free Press article entitled, “Look Who’s Talking” on Friday 4th December 2009, suggested that “Anyone wanting to reduce their energy consumption should look at http://www.hazlemere.co.uk/blog/category/savingenergy”
Colin Baker’s column also discussed the GGF’s campaign to encourage the government “to introduce a national window scrappage scheme, recommending a grant of £1,000 to encourage homeowners to replace energy inefficient glazing with environmentally friendly windows.”
This former Dr Who, Colin Baker further comments on the potential merits of a national window scrappage scheme stating that a “single glazing scrappage scheme from central government could result in considerable savings in fossil fuel depletion, emissions and waste, offering immediate potential savings of 10% as a result of this initiative alone.”
Naturally I found his article both very intersting and amusing, especially when he said that I like him are “a failed manager of the universe”, which made me wonder if he had read my profile on my own personal blog “Champions Don’t Give Up, They Get Up“. I trust he found my blog entitled “Why on earth do double glazing companies in Bucks use high pressure selling tactics” interesting? Although, as the sixth Dr Who, I am sure Colin Baker had more pressing matters to concern him.
The first Dr Who I can remember from my distant past was, the third Dr Who, Jon Pertwee, but I certainly remember Colin Baker as Dr Who, who is now a school governor who suggests we should invest in the present to save energy for the future…”replacing these windows would pay for itself in a compartively short time in terms of the legacy we leave just the next generation, let alone those after.” (Colin Baker, Look Who’s Talking article on page 15 of the Bucks Free Press on 4/12/09)
The former Dr Who, Colin Baker also kindly says about Bucks based independent double glazing window and door manufacturers, suppliers and installers Hazlemere Windows that “independent and local are both good in my book.” Find out what else Colin Baker had to say in his article about reducing energy consumption
CATAGORY|Carbon Footprint, Saving Money
Whether you are thinking of buying or selling a home, it is wise to give some advanced thought to what you should look for/need in a HIPS pack. An EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) is an important document that is required. What are Energy Performance Certificates?
If you want to impress a prospective purchaser, and make your home as saleable as possible, it is wise to ensure your property is as highly energy efficient as possible, to enable your property to get a decent rating, making it a more attractive proposition than a property that will cost a fortune to heat and have a huge carbon footprint. If you want your home to have a decently rated Energy Performance Certificate, ensure that your boiler has been serviced and that it is an energy efficient as possible, your loft insulated, walls cavity filled and make sure your windows and doors have been double glazed with energy efficient glass.
Likewise, if you are looking to purchase a home, these energy saving measures will make your new property much more economic to run, whilst reducing your own carbon foorprint. As long as such important energy efficient home improvements have all been installed, the HIPS pack provided by the owner should contain an Energy Performance Certificate with an impressive rating.
The Directgov.uk website explains that “EPCs carry ratings that compare the current energy efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions with potential figures that your home could achieve. Potential figures are calculated by estimating what the energy efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions would be if energy saving measures were put in place. The rating measures the energy and carbon emission efficiency of your home using a grade from ‘A’ to ‘G’. An ‘A’ rating is the most efficient, while ‘G’ is the least efficient. The average efficiency grade to date is ‘D’. All homes are measured using the same calculations, so you can compare the energy efficiency of different properties.”
“An EPC is required by law when a building is constructed, sold or put up for rent. If you are a landlord or homeowner and need to provide an EPC, you’ll need to contact an accredited domestic energy assessor. They will carry out the assessment and produce the certificate. The accreditation scheme makes sure that domestic energy assessors have the necessary skills and are able to carry out the survey to agreed standards.” Find out how to get an Energy Performance Certificate
Why you need a Home Information Pack (HIPS)
“A HIP is a set of documents that provides the buyer with key information on the property and must be provided by the seller or the seller’s agent. It is a legal requirement to have a HIP and you can’t market your property without one. The HIP lets buyers see important information about the property at the start of the process, free of charge. This means there is less chance of buyers becoming aware of any surprises at the end of the process. The HIP can help reduce delays and extra expense to the buyer and seller.” (Directgov.uk website)
For Freehold UK properties a HIP pack must contain a HIP index, the new Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ), a Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) or Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA), sustainability information (required for newly built homes), sale statement, evidence of title, standard searches (local authority and drainage and water). If the property is Leasehold, all the above is required in addition to a copy of the lease.
With saving energy an every increasing priority for governments due to the environmental benefits, it is wise to either buy an energy efficient home that has a low carbon footprint, which will save you money off your energy bills, or improve and invest in the energy efficiency of your existing home by making it as insulated as possible, reducing your carbon emmisions, which if and when you decide to sell, will give it a decent EPC and more likely to fetch its market value.
CATAGORY|Carbon Footprint, Home Improvements, Saving Energy, Saving Money
In an article on the UIA website entitled “Green properties could make bills cheaper for home insurance customers” by Victor Onuohae he states that “Home insurance customers could make alterations to their property to make it eco-friendly – and may, as a result, enjoy significant savings on their energy bills.”
Chairman of the climate change committee Lord Adair Turner has urged people to take “a whole house approach” and splash out on making their home greener.
But Gordon Miller, founder of whatgreenhome.com, suggested that: “Lord Turner is putting the cart before the horse a little bit here. Most people in the UK haven’t even done the basics yet”.
Simple home improvements, such as adding insulation and choosing an efficient boiler, can save homeowners cash on bills.
“Double glazing and cavity wall fillings can also have the desired effect – on the environment, on bills and also on home insurance premiums as double glazing, for example, makes a house more secure.”
“Earlier this month Lord Adair Turner also claimed that by the 2020s Britain will have to decarbonise its electricity output.” says Victor Onuohae of UIA (Insurance) Ltd
CATAGORY|Saving Energy, Saving Money
Whether you have a single glazed window in a property or a single glazed window with secondary glazing or a modern double glazed window, or even a super duper triple glazed window, they all perform the same function of forming a barrier between the elements and the interior, in effect acting as transparent walls.
A cross section of a wall can either be a thick slab of building material or normally two walls with a cavity in between, as these double walls provide insulated protection between the interior and exterior. The air between the walls allows the outside wall to be cold while the inside surface of the wall can be at room temperature.
For example, when building a conservatory, it is important to remember that the double glazing you choose for the sides should be as energy efficient as possible, as you want it to perform the same task as double brick cavity insulated walls as far as possible. Whilst a conservatory can not be as energy efficient as a brick built extension, you will save on your heating bills by opting for Low E Argon filled sealed units with a thermal break. Yes, these cost a bit more, but you need to remember the double glazed windows and doors are acting double walls, so the higher the specification you go for, the better energy efficiency you will get.
UPVC Conservatory With Cavity Brick Dwarf Wall
If you need convincing, go into a greenhouse in winter, which you will find not warm, even if heated! Given this, why would you want to put up with single pane windows on your property, especially when you know money and energy is pumping out of them? Nowadays, builders layer walls with brick, plywood, sheetrock and studs etc., then finish the job with a layer of insulation, so why would you want the windows in your home to be any different?
In the past builders made a hole in a wall, filled it with a frame and then put in a layer of glass. Glass is no match for what the elements can throw at you. Nowadays, modern replacement double glazing does the same thing we ask of our double walls. The outer pane is dependent on the weather, whilst the inner pane depends more on what the room temperature is. The only reason the inner pane can keep warmer drier air in, is because the outer pane acts as the first line of defence.
As well as being more aethestically pleasing, and adding value and saleability to your property, today’s energy rated double glazing will also pay for itself over time if you stay in the property long enough. The money and energy saved by installing energy efficient, energy saving windows will help off-set the initial investment outlay. To ensure you get double glazing products that do save you significant money off your heating bills, make sure you install windows that have a British Fenestration Rating Council (BFRC) rating of “C” or above. The most efficient double glazing in the marketplace as endorsed by the Energy Saving Trust and the BFRC is either “A” rated aluminium windows or “A” rated UPVC windows, whichever you think best suits your property. If you are thinking of investing in double glazed windows, don’t settle for less than “C” rated or above, as in my opinion, BFRC “C” energy rated double glazed windows will deliver you the best possible return on your investment.
CATAGORY|Saving Energy, Saving Money, Windows & Doors
A double glazing company is running a TV advert which seems to offer a “national” window scrappage scheme. The view of the double glazing blogger, the Renegade Conservatory Guy brings whether this claim is true into question. Following is the response from Renegade Conservatory Guy (RCG) on his blog to valid a question from Emma who says she is looking for replacement double glazing:
“Hi Emma, The real Window Scrappage Scheme has been proposed to the Government through a petition on the Number 10 Downing Street website, but as yet there is no official scheme unless Government policy changes. You obviously saw a TV advert from Anglian who have created their own marketing campaign on this subject.” (Renegade Conservatory Guy)
Under what seems to be a totally “unofficial” window scrappage scheme, potential customers are appearing to being offered “up to £2,000 off”, but as there is no retail price list, and the fact that “minimum order values apply”, it does just sound like a marketing gimmick, rather than a genuine subsidy.
Believe you me, Hazlemere Windows would love there to be a government “National Window Scrappage Scheme”, so consequently the Hazlemere Group actively supports the Glass and Glazing Federations petition to Number 10 Downing Street. In-fact, Hazlemere Windows & Doors has been encouraging householders to sign up to the GGF petition to get the government to introduce a windows scrappage scheme, to enable homeowners to install environmentally friendly energy efficient, energy saving windows.
So if you are considering replacing any windows and/or doors, please don’t be duped into believing there is a government national window scrappage scheme, as sadly at present there is not, but hopefully if enough people sign the Glass and Glazing Federation’s petition, then the government mind see the electoral, energy saving and environmental benefits in assisting property owners to improve the UK housing stock.
CATAGORY|Saving Money, Windows & Doors
High Wycombe based window manufacturers, the Hazlemere Group, are supporting the Glass and Glazing Federation’s government petition, which calls on the introduction of a scrappage scheme for the double glazing industry to assist UK homeowners to fit energy efficient double glazing to their properies.
In September 2009 the GGF (Glass and Glazing Federation) launched a PR campaign to petition Number 10 Downing Street to introduce a scrappage scheme as a subsidy to fit new energy efficient double glazing in UK homes. The GGF petition states: ‘We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to introduce a window scrappage scheme in the UK to improve the energy efficiency of the existing housing stock.’
The GGF have already exceeded the 500 signatures their petition needed for it to advance. If you agree with the GGF and would like to make your voice heard, simply click here to sign the online petition
The implementation of a full on scrappage scheme for the double glazing industry, along similar lines to the car industry, would certainly show a genuine commitment from the government towards saving energy, and go some way to assisting UK homeowners lower their property’s carbon footprint.
Bucks manufacturers and installers, Hazlemere Windows, offer homeowners a wide range of energy efficient window systems, included “A” rated UPVC and aluminium windows, the highest possible level of energy efficiency achievable. Hazlemere Windows “A” rated windows have been endorsed and approved by both the British Fenetration Rating Council and the Energy Saving Trust.
CATAGORY|Saving Money, Windows & Doors
Hazlemere Windows are reminding customers that VAT will increase by 2.5% VAT after 31st December 2009, from 15% to 17.5%.
By law, Hazlemere can only invoice for work carried out, so unless a contract is completed prior to the end of 2009, sadly customers who have installations carried out in 2010 will have to pay VAT at 17.5%, as the government have introduced penalties for anyone trying to pay in advance for works that will be carried out in 2010 at the new VAT rate.
CATAGORY|Saving Money, Windows & Doors
Rose Watson & family outside her now much more energy efficient home
I recently read a helpful article by Alok Jha on the Guardian webite about how Rose Watson, a homeowner in Nottingham, had taken some drastic steps to reduce both her family’s carbon footprint and her energy bills. It was entitled “
One womans war on energy waste“, and rationally set out the moral and ethical delimma facing every property owner about the difficulty of genuinely wanting to reduce one’s carbon footprint and save energy, whilst trying at the same time to save money in these recessionary times.
The article explained that “When Rose Watson moved into her Nottingham home nine years ago, there was no central heating, the gas heater in the living room was leaking carbon monoxide, and any warmth in the building tended to leach out of the draughty single-glazed windows.” Consequently her family were pouring out energy and money through the single glazed windows.
However, Rose addressed these issues. “Over the next two years, following the tips from the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and others, Watson got hooked on simple ways to green her home. Her paper-thin loft insulation was topped up to the recommended 200mm, energy-saving lightbulbs went up in all the rooms, the single-glazed windows were replaced with double-glazing, and draught excluders were fixed under all the doors and around the front door.”
Caroline Rams of the Energy Saving Trust (of which Hazlemere Window Company Ltd are members) says that Rose Watson’s actions shows what an average British family can achieve with ease when trying to make their first cut in carbon emissions. “Rose has a busy life and a large family who certainly keep her on her toes. Yet she has always found time to prioritise her energy- saving behaviour; so much so that it has become second nature. She is the perfect example of how you don’t have to change too much of your lifestyle to become green.”
CATAGORY|Carbon Footprint, Saving Energy, Saving Money
