Robert Winstanley & Co Ltd
Unit 1. 13 Ross Way, Shorncliffe Industrial Estate, Folkestone, Kent. CT20 3UL Tel 01303 249048
Fax 01303 244443

What’s all the fuss about?

The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro highlighted, for the first time, the real threat of climate change on a global scale. In 1997 the Kyoto Protocol was ratified by many developed and developing countries around the world.

The specific aim of the Kyoto Protocol is to reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases that are the major contributors to global warming.

When you consider that almost half of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions come from the energy we use every day - at home, when we travel and at work, you can understand why energy saving is becoming more important.

Since April 2002 we have all been aware of the need to sell, manufacture and install more thermally efficient products, as the Government introduced the need for replacement windows to achieve a U’value of 2.0 Wm2K or better

There are currently plans to review Building Regulations again in 2010, shifting the focus from the current U’value calculations with a move toward the WER scheme and the need to achieve a C-rated window as standard. This change means that rather than just concentrating on the glass U’value (i.e. the amount of heat lost through the glass), we also now have to take account of the amount of solar gain (i.e. heat absorbed into the house through the glass) and air permeability (i.e. how air tight the frames are).

These moves are in line with the Governments intention of being able to deliver zero emissionnew homes by 2016.