Viridian

Viridian, the glass manufacturing and processing business of CSR Ltd is asking consumers if they really know what windows can do for them?

Viridian is helping consumers who are building or renovating to create beautiful, light filled homes that are more comfortable and energy efficient - just by making a better glass and window choice.

In fact there's never been a more important time to consider your windows with the announcement of the minimum requirement for energy efficiency for homes will rise from five to six star. The appropriate selection of windows and glass has an important role in helping to achieve a better star rating without having to compromise your views.

Through good design and choosing from the range of Viridian's high performance single and double glazed products consumers have the power to:

• admit natural light to ensure beautiful, clear views but control the sun's heat to keep the home cooler. E.g. Viridian^TM ComfortPlus^TM range can provide up to 41% greater solar control than ordinary glass.
• insulate the home against dramatic variations in temperature. E.g. ThermoTech E^TM Double glazing with Low E glass offers up to a staggering 68% better insulation than ordinary glass.
• or combine the properties of different glass products to achieve an energy efficient glazing system that offers a wide range of other benefits, such as noise reduction, increased safety and security, protection against bushfires and storms and even self cleaning.

These benefits help to ensure the home will be a more comfortable, more rewarding and healthier place to live, and offer an endless supply of free natural energy for lighting, heating and ventilation.

Ordinary windows are an energy leak. A typical, adequately-insulated building that uses ordinary glass can lose up to 49% of heat through the windows in winter. These same windows can allow up to 87% of the solar heat gain in summer.

With the cost of energy predicted to jump by 125%* within the next 10 years, the improved energy efficiency of high performance windows becomes even more important to homeowners.

To make it easy for consumers to make the right choices the first time, Viridian has launched the SeeBeyond Windows campaign.
Spearheading the campaign is the new consumer website www.SeeBeyondWindows.com - a dedicated resource to share valuable information about the importance of windows, what's available and to help put consumers in contact with building professionals and window suppliers from right across Australia who will provide advice and support.

"Our independent research of people building new homes or completing major renovations revealed that the vast majority - 87% of those surveyed - wished they'd known more about windows before starting their renovation or build," said Lachlan Austin, General Manager of Marketing for Viridian.

"SeeBeyondWindows.com shows the consumer that the great virtue of the high performance windows and glass available today is that it can help home-builders and renovators meet and exceed the mandatory energy efficiency limits and provide a tangibly more comfortable and livable home WITHOUT sacrificing their homes' outlook, spaciousness and access to natural light."

Lachlan also hopes that the SeeBeyondWindows.com will empower consumers to take more control of their home design decisions by explaining the glass options and encouraging the selection of energy efficient materials and building components in the early stages of a building's design.

"Simply by identifying key issues at the early design stage, attractive glass products can be selected to best meet the needs of the home design, how the home is sited on its block and the climate in which it is situated.

"The right choices made up front can deliver life-long energy efficient performance, and permit considerable savings over the life of the dwelling.

"It's important to note that we are not talking about anything radical or risky - these are well-proven technologies which are accessible right now to home-builders and renovators throughout Australia," Lachlan said.

To better understand the opportunities available through high performance windows, see SeeBeyondWindows.com. For more information on Viridian and how to implement creative solutions using glass and windows visit www.viridianglass.com.

* MMA report to Federal Treasury December 2008