The huge hike in energy costs following the Russian invasion of Ukraine came as a major shock, but it will not have been the first development in recent years to raise the issue of improved energy efficiency, either in the home or the workplace.
More efficient energy use in buildings has multiple uses. It means they can stay warmer in winter, avoid or at least reduce problems like damp and mould, cut bills and reduce emissions, either from the buildings themselves or from power stations that need to produce less energy from burning fossil fuels.
This has, in turn, been backed up by laws requiring rented properties to meet certain minimum energy performance requirements and building regulations focused on new builds.
Achieving these goals requires significant care being taken over matters of design and materials, whether seeking to improve an existing building with retrofitting measures or constructing new ones with the latest and best elements built into the fabric.
This can include many different elements including insulation, better air circulation (the basis of the Passivhaus principle) and, of course, the use of glass. Most people know well that double glazing has a big role to play in providing a cushion of air between panes to keep the cold air outside and the warmer air inside apart, but what about internal glass doors?
How Doors Can Help Energy Efficiency
The role energy-efficient doors and windows can play in conserving fuel and keeping bills down has been highlighted by the Energy Saving Trust. Discussing doors, it recommends draught-proofing, which is useful in keeping cold air outside the house from getting in. But this principle can also apply indoors.
Sheer logic tells you why. By design, doors are meant to be opened and closed, so at least some cold air can get into a building when the outer door is opened. However, insulated internal doors can help limit its spread. In addition, internal doors used in rooms where the heating is on can be used to help reduce heat loss, thus increasing energy efficiency.
That is reason enough to have an insulated internal door, but why glass? A good reason for this may be deduced from the design of a lot of modern homes.
The Role Of Doors In New And Old Homes
In its guidance on the pros and cons of buying new build homes, the Homeowners Alliance lists a wide range of factors, not the least of which is that new homes tend to be much more energy efficient because of the design specifications involved.
The guide also lists the common feature of open plan layouts as an element of the ‘modern living’ offered by new builds. This may indeed be seen by some as a positive, because it can be easier to get around the house, offers more flexible use of space and can help natural light penetrate throughout the home more easily.
However, while it may be that most new homes are indeed much more energy efficient, matters can be improved further by installing an insulated glass door at some point. This will create the best of both worlds, acting as a barrier to the unwelcome transfer of warm or cold air while providing no barrier to the passage of natural light.
Moreover, the same benefits can also be enjoyed if you move into an older home. This will still offer a barrier for heat while potentially allowing a lot more light to penetrate hitherto dark corners than has been the case in the home’s past years – something its original architects and builders might never have even thought of.
Indeed, while a glass door might fit with the modern aesthetic of a new-build home, it could also help give an older home something of a makeover and a more up-to-date look, while adding an extra insulating component to improve its energy efficiency. Once more, it’s a win-win all round.
How Glass Can Be Greener
Of course, some may ask a further question about glass. It may have insulating qualities (both thermal and sound), but if we are all thinking about being greener, what about its own production?
It is certainly true that glass is a material that has been subjected to some of the same pressures to decarbonise in the manufacturing process as steel or concrete (the latter having a lot of embedded carbon that new mixes aim to reduce). In 2015, the government published a roadmap to decarbonisation by 2050.
This process has multiple aspects, not least that when glass is manufactured the energy sources that produce the heat required can be cleaner and greener. Even so, glass itself, used for so much longer than concrete, has a greater role in energy efficiency today than when it was first used centuries ago.
