While the goal of thermally insulated joinery is to reduce operational carbon by minimising energy consumption, a new study commissioned by Technoform reveals that there’s a bit more to the equation.

Typically purchasers have access to the R value of windows and doors, which is a measure used to help determine how much energy it requires to heat and cool a building. What hasn’t been well measured prior to this study was the true up-front carbon of imported windows and doors compared to locally made — or in layman's terms, the carbon footprint of windows and doors up until the point of building occupation.

The study compares the carbon footprint of houselots of windows and doors sourced from China, Germany and New Zealand, and not surprisingly, the results were sobering. The imported product released up to 4x as much CO2-eq per m² of construction — a carbon footprint that’s extremely hard to claw back from the energy efficiency gained from a quality insulated windows system, regardless of how good it is.

Technoform now has the data on hand to support the industry and consumers to make more informed choices, and in a win-win result, those better choices have a positive impact not only on the environment, but for the New Zealand economy too.

Want to learn more? 
Click below to download a summary of Technoform's Carbon Footprint Report contact Technoform to request a copy of the full report.

Download Carbon Footprint Summary