Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) Chief Executive Nigel Rees welcomed Gordon Brown's initiatives as far as energy efficiency was concerned.
News, 28 March 2006
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Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) Chief Executive Nigel Rees welcomed Gordon Brown's initiatives as far as energy efficiency was concerned. In particular the enhancement of the DTI's Low Carbon Building programme with £50 million of further funding granted for the installation of microgeneration technologies in a range of buildings including schools, social and local authority housing, businesses and public buildings. As well as a proposed £20 million funding to help local authorities and others work in partnership with energy companies to promote and incentives energy efficiency measures to households.
However he expressed deep concern that the focus on energy efficiency did not go further and felt that the planned climate change levy rise was particularly ill thought out as the industry was already facing massive increases in energy prices.
In addition he commented: ' Having spent some time lobbying Government to reduce VAT on energy efficient products it is disappointing that this has still not been recognised by the Chancellor'.
'Such an initiative would create a level playing field for the industry by curtailing the activities of the cowboys in the construction industry, who do not pay any VAT, it would also reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the environment which would help the UK meet its 2010 energy saving targets and it would support the Government's work in the area of energy microgeneration'.
'We will continue to work towards this goal.' he concluded.
Groundbreaking order against double glazing firm
OFT wins first order under Enterprise Act for company to improve customer service
News, 30 June 2005
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A double glazing company with a bad record of customer complaints has been made the subject of the first order granted under the Enterprise Act 2002 for a business to improve itss customer service standards.
Lord Drummond Young in the Court of Session ordered MB Designs (Scotland) Ltd of Kirkintilloch not to "supply windows, doors and conservatories which are not of satisfactory quality... [or] fail to exercise the requisite level of skill and care of a reasonably competent installer". Its directors Martin Black and Paul Bett were ordered not to "consent to or connive in" defective services.
The orders were sought by the Office of Fair Trading, which has powers under Part 8 of the 2002 Act to apply for an enforcement order against businesses found to infringe certain standards of consumer service. The court was told that MB Designs had been the subject of over 300 complaints to the trading standards office.
The company argued that many of the complaints were due to work done by independent installers, but Lord Drummond Young held that these parties were subcontractors as the customers had no separate contract with them.
The Glass and Glazing Federationoors & Windows
Monday 28 February 2005
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The Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF), is the recognised leading authority for employers and companies within the flat glass, glazing, window, door, home-improvement, plastics and film industries. GGF Members can be found throughout the UK.
Membership of the Federation is not automatic. Companies must have been trading for three years, and there is a strict vetting procedure that includes looking at company accounts and site visits. The Federation represents more than 60% of the industry's turnover.
The GGF has been active in the areas of energy and the environment for many years. It has worked with the Government to promote the issue of energy efficiency to the consumer and is supportive of Tony Blair's objective, announced at the United Nations Earth Summit II in New York - to cut Britain's greenhouse gas emissions by a fifth by 2010.
Currently the GGF is involved with the Government and the Energy Saving Trust in the Energy Efficiency Initiative specifically in the area of double glazing and explaining the benefits of double glazing and Low-E glass to consumers
It has also produced with the Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions' Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme a good practice guide - "Selecting Energy Efficient Windows' for specifiers.
Double-glazing can halve heat loss through windows. The optimum space between two panes of glass is 20mm. A smaller one leads to greater heat loss. A larger one makes little difference to the level of thermal insulation.
Low emissivity glass - for extra energy efficiency
If low emissivity glass, or Low-E as it is often called, is used even more energy can be saved. A microscopically thin-coating on one surface of high quality glass makes this possible.
The glass forms the inner pane of a double glazing unit. Its coating faces the cavity. The coating reflects longer wavelength heat from radiators and room surfaces back into the building. Meanwhile it allows in warming short wavelength solar energy.
Conveniently, these incoming short wavelengths of solar energy are re-radiated by internal building surfaces as longer wavelengths which are then reflected, by the coating, back into the room.
Double glazing using Low-E glass has energy conservation properties as good as normal triple glazing, without the 50% increase in weight.
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