Edinburgh Scotland To Lift Ban On Energy Efficient Windows In Historic Buildings
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 09. 4.08

It's bad enough that people are casting a fluorescent pall with their CFLs. Historic building owners in Scotland may soon be able to install double-glazed windows. What is this world coming to, anyway? [joking] Climate change awareness and high energy bills are the logical answers.
Rising fuel costs and environmental concerns have forced councillors to consider lifting a ban on double glazed windows in Edinburgh's most historic buildings.A lot more changes to local zoning codes are coming, all around the world. The tipping point is still a long way off, following which most local units of government will do comprehensive reviews of zoning, relative to energy efficiency. But the day is coming. Via::The Scotsman,, City U-turn over double glazing ban in the frame Image credit::Carberry TowerHundreds of residents in and around the New Town are currently prevented from replacing their draughty old windows, because of fears that double glazing would change the appearance of their properties.
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I lived in Edinburgh for many years and improving the thermal properties of the housing stock would be an excellent idea: there's no point staying pretty and dropping dead from energy poverty mid-winter...
I'm sure that there is must be some aesthetically pleasing substitute for all those single-pain sieve-leaky sash windows...
Lining the walls with aerogel would also help IMHO.
Rgds
Damon
You would think window companies would jump at the chance to design energy efficient windows for historic buildings...
You would think window companies would jump at the chance to design energy efficient windows for historic buildings...
Museums are poor and most historic home owners want authenticity. Baltimore is famous for its Formstone covered housing which lowered energy costs. However, the yuppie and bougie classes moving into formstoned homes are tearing it off because it is not "authentic".
What makes this really amusing is many of those remove Formstone babbling on proudly about carbon footprints, farmer markets, and organic food.
Finally! I've been living in this beautifull city for a few years now and as a foreiigner it always amazed me that there was a ban on double glazing in the old houses! (And believe me, Scottisch winters can be cold (as their summers). Yay!
This is excellent news; though this is the windiest and chilliest countries in Europe, building insulation and heating is woefully inadequate (I live in Glasgow; many of the tenement houses here have neither wall or ceiling insulation--nor do they have double glazed windows!)
I would imagine this change to allow new windows in historic buildings has come about because of the recent (30-50%) rise in natural gas prices across the UK. At some point a strict adherence to 'historical realism' becomes untenable. Though there are certainly ways to integrate renovation and good aesthetics.
Wrong wrong wrong.
Isn't the greenest thing to do REUSE and REPAIR?
Refinishing historic windows is the best thing to do, and if you know anything about historic homes and how they work as a system, just a repair on a window doesn't do anything if there are leaks throughout the entire structure. (I lived in a 1880's farmhouse, so I'm speaking from experience).
If you deal with a reputable historic preservationist, they can usually repair the casements, install proper sealants, etc and make the historic window almost as efficient as the cheap, vinyl replacement crap that is manufactured with chemicals and almost never lasts as long as the warranty implies (see consumer product safety committee recalls and complaint websites for examples).
Trust me, restore the window before buying replacements.
Cheers,
Tom-tom
http://www.woodwindowrestoration.com/
http://www.oldnorthknoxville.org/archives/windowrepair.htm
are u serious? changing the windows can damage the whole structure! how can u people think that changing a window on a castle that will bring asthma and allergies because of the moist that will be inside, will change the earth!? there are a lot of risks whit adding a thermal insulation to a old building : a moist environment and moist foundations will not only weaken your health(everybody has allergies these days) but will also help bring down the hole structure.
you think people that ban these windows have no idea about this?
let me give u an example: in one hour a square meter of air enters your home trough wooden windows( the old doggy ones).double glazed? zero...unless they have holes in them for that...so...same thing