Why the world needs thermally broken windows – and why Australia desperately needs to catch up
Our buildings have done their job so well that we can turn winter warm, summer cold and relax in the safety and security of home.
However, whether we like it or not, the world and weather outside of those walls is changing fast – we need to rethink the walls themselves while expanding our idea of a successful home to be both safe and sustainable.
Why bother?
The latest innovations in thermally broken aluminium make a compelling argument for sustainable innovation at large – like most products concerned with ethical and ecological outcomes, thermally broken aluminium windows beautifully balance form and function:
They perform better, save money over the long run and offer a variety of new features that their old-world counterparts couldn’t even dream of.
So my home is part of the problem?
Our Australian homes are the perfect example of where we are compared to where we need to be. Over half of the total energy consumed by our cities is spent maintaining internal temperatures, and our windows and doors don’t share our ecological concern.
Of all the energy we use to heat our homes, 40% is wasted, floating off through untreated windows. Meanwhile, 87% of Summer heat has transferred inside the same way. This means that an extraordinary amount of energy goes absolutely nowhere. There are the worst types of carbon emissions: those that haven’t even served a real purpose on their way through the system. – but this is not only an issue of sustainability..
How can thermally broken windows help me and my family?
Even if we ignore questions of our environmental responsibilities, the benefits are still compelling.
Of course, 40% of that lost heat is also 40% of our energy bills thrown out the window. It’s also the discomfort of a chilly home despite the heater on full blast – and heightens the chance of illness in the wintry months when we are at most risk.
Here we see the exciting, multipronged benefits of sustainable solutions: By demanding better performance with 100% recyclable materials, Thermally broken aluminium windows:
- Make heat transfer 1000 times slower
- Save us energy
- Save us money
- Increase comfort
- Offer additional safety and security features
- Require less maintenance – yet have a longer life
- Give us more creative control with completely new ways to design
- Give us new, luxurious options as a by product of innovating
But my home is already (or will be) built!
The final question becomes “well built for when?”
The Australian construction industry has largely ignored the benefits of solutions like thermally broken windows – and not entirely without cause: the assumption was that, unlike other parts of the world, Australia’s climate is relatively temperature and predictable.
But Australia is changing.
Summer’s of today are 50% longer – and hotter – than those many Australians grew up with in the 60s and 70s, and adults who grew up in the 90s are now experiencing summer’s that are a full 31 days longer than their youth.
It’s a sad fact that any building under construction today that does not concern itself with sustainable solutions will be unfit for the future the moment it’s complete.
Meanwhile, standing buildings that are not adapted for the change will not be happy spaces shared with future generations, but burdens from a time that did not mindfully consider the world we’re leaving behind.
It’s time we start to change how we see our homes and buildings and the more people that understand the impact and advocate for more sustainable solutions the better everyone will hopefully be from it.
To find out more about the best thermal window and door solution for you contact our team.
