Once, people wanted to know, “how green is your garden?” Today, the focus of the question is about your property itself: “How green is your home?”. Here we explore how you can make small changes to achieve a more sustainable home, worthy of being called one of Kevin McClouds’ ‘Green Heroes’.
There are many reasons for the continuing trend towards greater sustainability and eco-friendly design. Most obviously, there’s the need to help support climate action by making responsible choices, favouring the use of materials and construction processes that won’t harm the environment.
But there are practical benefits, too. A sustainable building is one that doesn’t lose heat easily and retains the warmth within the home where it’s needed. It’s also a property that has been designed to bring in natural light, to reduce the need for artificial light during the day. Getting these elements right means lower energy bills, which is at once an environmental benefit but also a cost-saving for the savvy homeowner.
Replacing your windows and doors – alongside broader considerations such as loft insulation – is one of the most effective home improvements you can make to enhance the sustainability of your home. Advances in thermal efficiency and performance mean that modern windows and doors are better than ever at maximising light and minimising heat loss.
When it comes to keeping heat in the home, aluminium windows and doors benefit from cleverly engineered gaps – thermal breaks – that stop heat escaping, or the cold getting in. By bringing in other innovations such as reinforced polyamide bars, conductivity can be slowed down by up to 1,000 times.
Aluminium is also really light and really strong – the ideal combination to create narrow frames and large expanses of glass in your doors or windows. Not only does this mean a sleek, slimline appearance, it also means that daylight will flood into your home for a vibrant, natural effect.
Another long-term benefit of aluminium when it comes to sustainability is that it is 100% recyclable. Due to its strength and durability, aluminium maintains all of its performance characteristics no matter how many times it goes through the recycling process. That means it can be recycled over and over again, with no loss of quality.
Of course, all building products have a carbon footprint, so it’s worth understanding the impact of any material. For example, the most significant part of aluminium’s carbon usage is caused by the need for electricity in the production process.
That’s why – as part of our commitment to make our aluminium doors and windows as sustainable as possible – Reynaers has increased its use of low carbon primary aluminium. By purchasing aluminium produced using green electricity, we are reducing our own CO2 emissions by more than 25%.
In short, adding aluminium windows or doors to your home is one of the best ways you can improve its sustainability – and help you to answer the question on everybody’s lips: “how green is your home?”
Reynaers is proud to showcase even more examples of great sustainability as sponsor of Kevin McCloud’s Green Heroes, at Grand Designs 2021. Find out more about Reynaers’ sponsorship with Grand Designs Live here. We will be giving away plenty of free tickets to the event on social media in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out to win! Alternatively, purchase a ticket here: https://gdllondon.seetickets.com/content/gdl-tickets.
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