The usual relaxed February half-term break may seem under threat, as Britain’s frosty weather looks to linger for at least another week.
The chilly weather conditions that have travelled from as far as Siberia, have hovered around -6C to -9C – but this week temperatures look to plummet to as low as -15C – making Britain colder then the North and South Poles.
The past 12 months, although challenging, have been eventful with lots of positive news and exciting developments.
Firstly, earlier in the year we announced our investment in a state-of-the-art offline coater at Cowley Hill. The work, which is now well underway, has been acknowledged and celebrated with a ‘ground-breaking’ ceremony by the chairman of NSG Group Katsuji Fujimoto, as well as a visit from the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who formally confirmed the Regional Growth Fund grant towards the project.
It is anticipated that the construction of the new plant will be complete in Summer 2012 with soft-coated products being available from November 2012.
Winter’s nearly here and we’re all bracing ourselves for a dramatic change in weather, a drop in temperature and shorter days and longer nights. Last year during the ‘big freeze’ many households ramped up the heating – an effective short-term solution that came back to bite when the energy bills landed on the doorstep.
With more wind, rain and chilly weather expected this winter, and the ongoing gas and electricity tariff hikes, it is now more important than ever to look into ways of running an energy-efficient home to help reduce costs, while maintaining your home’s tip top condition and staying warm and cosy.
A good place to start is with the interior of your house; simple things can be done such as checking that your heating system is working properly and invest in a programmable heating management system that will automatically reduce the heating while you are asleep or out at work. Conserve heat by wrapping your hot water cylinder with an insulting jacket and also try adding insulation to internal exposed pipes in the airing cupboard and around the cylinder. In the loft, insulate well, as draughts and the cold air quickly finds a way to circulate through the home. Insulation is relatively easy to install and it could save you up to £150 a year.
With the exterior of your home, inspect your roof and guttering; check for breakages or leaks, clear out any leaves or other debris to reduce the risks of leaks and blockages during the freezing weather. Wet exterior walls cool the building faster than dry ones. Make sure the roof is in good condition; check for loose or missing tiles as well as any cracks in your chimney, as heat will easily escape through these gaps. Also, inspect your home for draughts that will let the cold air in. Particularly feel for air coming in around doors, and windows. If you find any draughts, seal them!
Make the most of the sun’s free energy that floods in through your windows by installing double glazing. Pilkington energiKare™ energy-efficient double glazing uses advanced glazing technology to allow more heat (energy) from the sun through the window, known as solar gain, while reducing the amount of heat escaping by keeping it on the inside.
The Pilkington energiKare™ glass unit contains two types of glass; the inner pane is low-emissivity Pilkington K Glass™ that helps prevent heat escaping from the home, using a special coating that reflects heat back into the room whilst also letting in free heat from the sun. This is combined with an outer pane of Pilkington Optiwhite™, an ‘extra-clear’ low iron float glass with very high solar transmittance for consistent capture of solar energy gain. The double glazed unit is filled with argon gas to stop further heat escaping from homes by slowing down heat transfer inside the space.
The glass works in three stages: the sun radiates useful heat which is readily transmitted by the Pilkington Optiwhite™ outer pane and passes through the glass unit into the building. With the heat now in the building, the inner pane of Pilkington K Glass™ acts to prevent energy loss back out of the window unit.
With greater energy transmission from outside and reduced heat loss from inside less heating is needed to keep your home warm. Installing thermally-efficient glazing such as Pilkington energiKare™ will help to reduce your energy bills, whilst also reducing cold spots and downdraughts near windows, improving both comfort and usable floor space as well as increasing inner glass surface temperatures, which reduces internal condensation.
For more information on Pilkington energiKare™ please link here.
This week we announced a new product in the Pilkington K Glass™ range of low-emissivity glass that will help window manufacturers achieve a broader range of window U values and Window Energy Ratings (WER) i.e from A to C. Pilkington K Glass™ S extends our range of energy-efficient glazing solutions by introducing soft coat technology to a trusted brand.
David Pinder, Managing Director of Pilkington Building Products UK explained at the launch, “This advance in the Pilkington K Glass™ product means that our coated glass range offers the widest choice on the market. Our trade customers can now easily find a solution for any processing technique or achieve an A rated Window in any type of framing system, whether it be timber, pvc or aluminium”
The good news is that the UK’s favourite energy saving glazing solution, Pilkington K Glass™ looks set to remain just as popular in years to come as it is today.
For more information on this fantastic new product and for further detail on the entire Pilkington K Glass™ range head over to the Pilkington website here.
