MAY 2020 | 29
PVCu & Colour
MAKING YOUR HOME ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
HOW SMALL CHANGES CAN
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
If you’ve watched the tele-
vision programme, Ben Fogle:
New Lives in The Wild, then you
might be familiar with the num-
ber of people that are scrapping
a modern life for an entirely
sustainable one. But while not all
of us will be ditching our current
homes for a house powered by
the sun, at least not anytime
soon, many of us aspire to own
an environmentally friendly
home. Here, Nick Cowley, man-
aging director at leading window
and door manufacturer Euramax,
explains how little changes to
your home could make a big dif-
ference to the environment.
With climate change now
firmly cemented in the public
consciousness, we’re encour-
aged every day to reduce our
carbon footprint by reducing
meat consumption, transport
and plastic usage. Although, it
can take time to adapt to these
lifestyle changes, one of the most
significant ways to become more
environmentally friendly is to
make immediate changes to your
home.
From capsule homes that
are camouflaged with grass, to
£800,0000 zero-carbon homes in
Oxfordshire, sustainable homes
are being developed in many
ways. However, it is possible to
achieve a more sustainable home
without moving.
Installing insulation
Homes in the UK contribute to
27 per cent of the UK’s green-
house gas emissions and, ac-
cording to Evergreen Energy, 24
million homes in the UK have a
loft, but only 17 million of these
homes have loft insulation that is
150 millimetres (mm) — when in
fact the recommended thickness
is 270mm. Insulation prevents
heat from escaping, which insu-
lates your home without needing
to switch the heating on.
Installing insulation is an easy,
effective and environmentally
friendly way of minimising the
amount of greenhouse gases
that are used to produce energy
that heats a home, contribut-
ing towards a more sustainable
lifestyle.
Material considerations
Perhaps the biggest change
to achieve a sustainable home
is to consider the materials that
are used to construct a property.
While some people have gone
the extra mile by building homes
in the ground to use the natural
heat from the earth to warm the
house, modern homes can be-
come more sustainable by consid-
ering the material choice of the
windows and doors.
Inefficient windows and doors
are responsible for 25 per cent
of heat loss from a home, which
means it’s vital to ensure a ther-
mally efficient material is used
for your windows and doors.
Composite doors, like the
ones from Euramax, offer energy
saving benefits due to the 44mm
thick insulating core, which
prevents valuable heat from
escaping. In addition, Euramax’s
doors are A-rated for their energy
efficiency by The British Fenes-
tration Rating Council (BFRC),
ensuring that your home retains
as much heat as possible.
To maintain a sustainable home, it’s crucial
‘ that
any improvements and changes
you make save energy in the long run ’
Maintenance
Although insulation and com-
posite materials are an effective
way to achieving an energy
efficient home, it becomes irrele-
vant if the glazing used for your
windows and doors has not been
maintained. This is why it’s im-
portant to evaluate the condition
of your windows and doors.
If you can feel cool air around
your window or notice conden-
sation in between the panes, this
indicates that the seal around
the glass has worn. This not
only means that heat is seeping
through the pane, but leads to
higher energy bills.
To maintain a sustainable
home, it’s crucial that any im-
provements and changes you
make save energy in the long
run. For example, quality double
glazing should last for around 20
years, and LED lightbulbs can last
up to 25,000 hours. Making these
investments can put you on the
path to a sustainable road.
Aspiring to an environmentally
friendly home may seem like a
daunting task at first. However,
by installing insulation, con-
sidering material choices and
maintaining what’s in place,
means that you can achieve a
more energy efficient, sustainable
home. By making these simple
changes, you can still be sustaina-
ble without having to live among
the trees.
www.euramaxuk.com