Think of energy efficiency , and your first thought is unlikely to be of doors .

Wall insulation , loft insulation , replacing boilers , installing energy efficient appliances and so on – these are the measures that strike us as the most immediate way to make buildings more thermally efficient .

But actually , doors have a critically important role to play in making Britain ’ s homes more comfortable and cheaper to heat

In recent months , demand for energy efficient products , amongst them doors , has increased – and far from slowing , it ’ s likely to rise even higher in the years ahead .

Soaring energy prices

Why is that ? The short term reasons are obvious . Britain is currently undergoing its greatest energy crisis in at least a generation .

Earlier this year , following sharply rising global fuel prices , government regulator OFGEM increased its cap on annual energy bills by 54 %, from £ 1,277 to £ 1,971 .

By the Autumn , some commentators were predicting the average annual energy bill could exceed £ 3,000 a year by the end of 2022 .

In response , the government announced that it would cap those bills at £ 2,500 for six months , providing consumers

with some much-needed relief – but that still represents a more than 20 % increase based on the previous cap .

That ’ s spurred a marked increase in demand for energy-efficient home improvement products – including energy-efficient doors – that ’ s likely to continue for months as winter approaches .

With ministers announcing they ’ ll spend a further £ 1.5bn on improving the energy efficiency of 130,000 social houses across the country , it ’ s possible we ’ ll soon see a similar surge in demand from the public sector too .

Tackling climate change

But as severe as it seems today , it ’ s widely anticipated that the energy crisis will only be a temporary phenomenon .

Climate change , on the other hand , will mean that energy efficient products remain in demand for decades after that crisis has been resolved .

Europe ’ s buildings account for 40 % of its energy use , and 36 % of total CO ₂ emissions . At a time we urgently need those emissions to fall , in Britain , they ’ re expected to increase another 11 % by 2035 .

According to the Institute of Engineering and Technology , 80 % of the homes people will live in by 2050 have already been built .

That means retrofitting , including replacing millions of doors with energy efficient alternatives , will therefore play a part in reducing emissions .

energy efficient doors will soon become vital

For installers , that means being able to offer quality energy efficient doors will soon become vital if they want to continue to thrive .

Hurst ’ s energy efficient composite doors

Earlier this year , the government introduced the interim uplifted standards contained in Approved Document L , Volume 1 : Dwellings ( Conservation of fuel and power ) as part of its roadmap towards a new Future Homes Standard in 2025 .

In the months since , that ’ s focused the glazing industry on improving thermal efficiency in windows and doors – but at Hurst , our composite doors already satisfied the stricter requirements of the revised Document L .

Thermally efficient cores , frames and glass all contribute to the exemplary Hurst results and , coupled with an impressive range line up , the GRP composite door from Hurst is certainly a door to open .

To learn more about the energy efficient composite door range and the associated support packages available to resellers , please get in touch – we ’ d be delighted to hear from you .

www . hurstdoors . co . uk