What most people don’t realise is that the biggest source of the carbon footprint you leave is your home and household emissions. According to Nesta, “domestic energy use accounts for more than 21 % of UK greenhouse gas emissions each year.” The Office for National Statistics claim that households have been the single biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the UK since 2015 and account for almost 28% of the UK’s total emissions.
Government goals for reducing emissions.
Methods of reducing your energy consumption
There are a number of ways to reduce your energy consumption and emissions but in this post, we’re going to take a quick look at your conservatory. Whilst modern conservatories are generally much more energy efficient than they used to be, even slightly older conservatories can waste energy at alarming rates.
The energy efficiency of your conservatory
The overall energy efficiency of your conservatory will depend on its age, design, the materials used and the way you use it.
Glazing
Traditional glazing was not energy efficient. Over 25% of the heat in your house escapes through your windows so it’s easy to see how a conservatory could act a bit like a sieve with yoru heating. This is compounded in the case of a conservatory by breaks in the glass, poor installation and general wear and tear which undermines the fit of the glass into the frame.
U values
U–Value is the measure of the rate of heat loss through a material. The lower the U value, the better as it means less heat is escaping from your conservatory.
Although U values will vary, to give you a rough idea of the thermal efficiency of your conservatory single–glazing has a U value of about 5.6, double–glazing with a 16-20mm gap has a U value of 3.0, triple–glazing with a 16-20mm gap has a U value of 2.2 and double glazing with a 16-20mm gap and a low–e coating has a U value of 1.6. A typical polycarbonate roof has a U-Value of between 2.4 and 1.6.
But compare those figures to a conservatory roof replacement system. For example, the LEKA Warm Roof delivers super thermal efficiency which results in U values from 0.12! That’s because it uses a state of the art system that includes insulated Celotex sheets with a 15mm gap from the internal Leka sheets. Celotex is one of the UK’s leading insulation specialists and the LEKA system also includes thermally efficient outer sheets and tiles.
We’ve all got to do our bit
There is no doubt that we all have to do our bit when it comes to reducing emissions, whether that’s switching to a more energy efficient car, walking to work or updating our home to make them more efficient. If you’ve got a conservatory, it’s a great place to start, and a new conservatory roof has the advantages of making your conservatory cheaper to run, more useable, more stylish and modern looking and quieter!