In a bid to save energy and cut CO2 emissions, the Belgian glass industry has called on Belgium“s public authorities to grant financial incentives for householders to fit special double glazing. It a…
In a bid to save energy and cut CO2 emissions, the Belgian glass industry has called on Belgium“s public authorities to grant financial incentives for householders to fit special double glazing. It also wanted regional rules on building insulation to be generalised and called for public information campaigns. Luc Willame, president of the Belgian Glass Federation, said that replacing all Belgium“s ordinary house windows with high performance double glazing would cut overall CO2 emissions in Belgium by 3% and create 3,000 jobs over 10 years. About 48 million gigajoules of energy a year, equivalent to over half the annual consumption of Brussels, could be saved, representing BFr 17 billion, he added. Willame, who is chief executive officer of glass maker Glaverbel SA, said that in Belgium the domestic sector was responsible for 25% of CO2 emissions, with 75% of household energy consumption going towards heating.”It is clear that better insulation will allow a significant reduction in the resulting energy wastage and CO2 emissions,” a Belgian federation statement said. Willame said the 3,000 jobs would be created by accelerating the natural window replacement process. Financial incentives, such as grants or tax rebates, could be paid for out of the savings made in unemployment costs by creating the new jobs. The industry says high-performance double glazing is 40% more effective at energy saving than ordinary double glazing. Willame said that of the 3.9 million dwellings in Belgium, 51% had single pane windows, 45% ordinary double glazing and only 4% high performance double glazing. The appeal is part of a wider European glass industry call for European Union member state governments to implement an EU policy to accelerate the upgrade of ordinary windows to high performance double-glazed windows over the next 10 years. European countries have committed themselves to stabilising, or in the case of Belgium, cutting CO2 emissions.