Now a few years back, some bright spark had the idea of introducing an energy-rating scheme for windows, just like the ones you see on fridges and washing machines, ranging from A (excellent) to G (not so excellent). They have been running schemes like this in North America, Australia and New Zealand but Europe has been slower to adopt. However, at long last it has got underway and there is now a body known as the British Fenestration Registration Council (BFRC) that has got the ball rolling in the UK.
The window rating system looks at three aspects of performance.
• The U value (or heat loss) of the window assembly
• The g value, or solar gain
• The L value, or air leakage of the assembly

Anyway, by hook or by crook, the BFRC have come up with a system that supposedly takes all of this into account (you can read more about it on their website if you are so inclined) and reduces all this conflicting data into just seven categories.
The very best windows, the A rated ones, are reckoned to be net heat contributors over the course of a heating season without having to be mounted in the south face of the house. When the BFRC originally set up the scheme, they didn’t anticipate there being many A rated windows, at least not for many years but the scheme has only been running 18 months and already there are loads of As, so much so that it’s beginning to resemble the A level results from Jade Goody’s comprehensive. The question is now arising as to whether the standards have been set too low.
As of time of writing, the accredited casement windows rate as follows:
• 24 A rated (of which just one is timber, all the rest being uPVC)
• 41 B rated (2 timber, the rest uPVC)
• 67 C rates (2 timber, 1 aluminium…)
• 22 D rated (3 timber, 1 aluminium…)
• 12 E rated (1 timber, 3 aluminium…)
• 0 F rated
• 0 G rated
Sliding sash windows are dealt with in a separate category and thus far only one firm, Masterframe, have bothered to submit their products for testing and their best rating is a C. It is not thought that it will ever be possible for a sliding sash to get an A rating, because of the design constraints.
Now whilst this haul represents a fair number of windows that have been submitted to this entirely voluntary scheme, it does make you wonder whether there is much point having an F or a G rating. This is hardly going to be a selling point for a window, especially as the building regulations, revised in 2006, call for minimum rating of D on new work or E on replacement windows. If an F rating is a fail, what is the purpose of having a G rating?
Looks like the scheme itself will have to be re-rated. Anyone for an A* or even an A***?
I think we can approach all the natual resources like solar energy or win energy. But never waste all this good alternative that we have. Actually i visited a site called costa rica investment opportunities result very interesting most of all their natural resources this country presents.diu
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