BWF Responds to Green Guide Ratings

Commenting on the publication of the new BRE Green Guide, BWF Chief Executive Richard Lambert said, ‘We are delighted that the new Green Guide confirms that wood windows' lower Global Warming Potential makes them the most effective choice in the battle against climate change. Wood windows achieved the highest overall summary rating of A+ and A when rated against BRE's 13 individual environmental impact criteria which make up the rating as a whole.

‘Nevertheless, we were surprised to find that preservative treated softwood TWA Scheme windows were rated A, while non-TWA softwood windows and hardwood are rated A+. Having spoken to the Green Guide team at BRE, we understand that the reason for the lower rating is because some of the TWA Scheme manufacturers were found to use particularly energy-intensive processes which pulled down the average for the Scheme members as a group.

‘One of the objectives in participating in the LCA project was to identify areas for improvement, and the BWF will be working with these manufacturers to help them improve their energy use and reduce the overall environmental impact of their processes. It does not mean that TWA Scheme windows are a less sustainable product than non-Scheme windows.

‘We were also surprised to find aluminium-faced wood windows given an E rating, as we know that they have come exceptionally well out of other life cycle assessments. This is something we will want to explore further with BRE.’

BRE will provide a full analysis report of the windows submitted by the BWF shortly, and the BWF project team will then meet the Green Guide team to gain a better understanding of the detail of the results, their implications and the potential for improving ratings in the future.

Web: http://www.bwf.org.uk