Mar 3 2006
Products from Pilkington have been instrumental in creating an industry first. With the industry adopting Window Energy Ratings (WERs), the British Fenestration Rating Council (BFRC) has passed the first ever ‘A’ rated window, an achievement that had not been expected for several years.
Created by Piper Double Glazing using Pilkington K Glass™ and Pilkington Optiwhite™, it is the only window so far to achieve the highest energy efficiency grade. This accomplishment is all the more impressive as Piper Double Glazing used standard technologies and products that are handled and used on a daily basis.
Piper Double Glazing succeeded by using a triple glazed sealed unit, with the outer and middle panes of 4mm Pilkington Optiwhite™ low iron glass, and the inner pane of 4mm Pilkington K Glass™. The glazing has cavities of 16mm each, which are filled with argon gas.
The accomplishment is an endorsement of using tried and trusted products and methods to create highly energy efficient windows. The units make use of warm edge spacer technology. The glazing bead is slimmer than the usual one so to accommodate the triple glazed units, but it is still a standard product.
Graham Winzar from Piper Double Glazing comments: “We are absolutely delighted to be the first with the A rating. It is all the more satisfying as we deliberately avoided the temptation to specially engineer any aspect of the test sample. It was especially pleasing that we achieved the A band with Pilkington K Glass™ and Pilkington Optiwhite™, as they are both widely and freely available and Pilkington K Glass™ is a widely recognised consumer brand. An A rated window provides customers with instant recognition that the window is energy efficient and can therefore help to reduce fuel costs.”
Window Energy Ratings (WERs), developed by the British Fenestration Rating Council (BFRC), take into account all the factors that affect the energy performance of a window and enable the window company to use an energy label similar to that seen on white goods. This displays the product’s Rating on an A to G scale.
Pilkington Optiwhite™ is particularly effective in helping windows to achieve higher Ratings because the BFRC system takes into account the benefit of useful solar gains and Pilkington Optiwhite™ can improve this without any detrimental effect on U values.