Energy Awareness Tips

Here are some good tips for anyone living in a house – whether you own a house, rent one or are building a new home. Doors are a huge source of energy loss or, if you follow the tips below, energy savings. Enjoy!

MAUMEE, OHIO – How many times have you heard someone call out, "close the door, you're letting the cold air in!" This common refrain has been heard in households for years. Now, during October's Energy Awareness Month, experts at Therma-Tru offer tips on how to keep the cold air outside while keeping energy bills low.

"Doors are a critical part of the housing envelope, so it's important to evaluate and maintain their energy efficiency throughout the year," says Derek Fielding, senior product manager for Therma-Tru Corp. "Along with your main entry door, you have side doors, sliding and hinged doors, garage doors and doors leading from the home to the garage. That's a large number of openings that need attention to maintain energy efficiency in the home."

According to Fielding, homeowners should always purchase an ENERGY STAR® rated door for their specific geographic area. In addition, there are several ways homeowners can assure their doors are helping support the overall energy efficiency of the home, including:

Tip #1 – If you're looking for door, be sure to select one made of fiberglass. A solid fiberglass door is up to four times more energy efficient than a solid wood door, plus you get the benefits that fiberglass has to offer, including resistance to rot, rust, dings and weather. Available in an assortment of styles, Therma-Tru_® Classic-Craft_® doors can come with woodgrain for staining or a smooth surface that can be painted to accent any home design.

Tip #2 – If you're replacing an entry door and want one with decorative or privacy glass in the door or sidelites, take time to research your options. Try to select doorlites and sidelites that have triple paned glass, which helps make the entire door more energy efficient. If only a two-paned glass is available, request a Low E coating on the glass that can enhance the energy efficiency of the unit.

Tip #3 – Reach out and touch your door on both hot and cold days. If you feel the exterior temperatures on the inside surface, then your door may not have adequate insulation and you should consider upgrading it with a replacement that is more energy efficient and has an ENERGY STAR qualified rating for your geographic area.

Tip #4 – Inspect the weather stripping around all sides of every door in the home to make sure it has not worn out. On a bright day, stand inside near your door and look for daylight flowing through the door perimeter. If light is coming in, then so most likely, is external air and possibly moisture. That means it's time to determine if your foam-filled weatherstripping may have lost some of its compression, cracked or has flatted out and needs to be replaced. An easy way to determine what weatherstripping you may need and order on line is to visit the door replacements parts section of the Therma-Tru website at http://www.thermatru.com/customer-support/replacement-parts/index.aspx.

Tip #5 – Open and close your doors --- on both dry and wet, humid days. If your door fits tightly on humid days, then it's most likely leaking air on dry days. You may want to consider a high-performance door made of fiberglass to prevent this type of swelling and add more energy efficiency to your home.

Purchasing a New Door

If your older entry door serves as a leaky energy drain on your home, then it's time to invest in a new high-performance entryway. Many homeowners in the past 25 years have embraced both the energy-efficiency and beauty of durable fiberglass doors.

According to the American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA), fiberglass products are known for their reliability, customization aspects for style design, and energy efficiency. Fiberglass doors have an abundance of features outlined by AAMA at

http://www.aamanet.org/general/1/437/fiberglass-product-reliability-and-durability.

Constructed as a complete system of components, Therma-Tru fiberglass doors are designed and engineered to work together for lasting performance, security and energy efficiency. Multi-point locking systems that engage a series of locks at several places on the frame, impact-rated decorative glass options, plus the adjustable security strike plate that withstands up to three times the force of a standard strike plate, are key factors in creating Therma-Tru's dependable entry door system.

Homeowners looking for durability in their doors can also rely on the Tru-Defense® Door System. This system maximizes the seal between the door and the frame to help keep out the damaging effects of wind and rain, while increasing energy efficiency. Within this optional upgrade system, the weatherstripping, corner seal pad, door bottom sweep and profiled sill all work together to provide a door system that can withstand severe weather conditions along with day-to-day family activity.

Homeowners interested in researching fiberglass door design options for their own homes can use the free "Door Designer" program (located at www.thermatru.com/products/door-designer/) and the "My Saved Doors" tool (located at http://www.thermatru.com/MyThermaTru).

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About Therma-Tru

Therma-Tru is the nation's leading manufacturer and most preferred brand of entryway doors. Founded in 1962, Therma-Tru pioneered the fiberglass entry door industry, and today offers a complete portfolio of entry and patio door system solutions, including decorative glass doorlites, sidelites and transoms, and door components. The company also offers low-maintenance Fypon urethane and PVC products. Headquartered in Maumee, Ohio, Therma-Tru is part of Fortune Brands Home & Security. (NYSE: FBHS). For more information, visit www.thermatru.com, www.fypon.com or call (800) 537-8827.

Images at: http://thermatru.com/news-events/media-resources/entry-door-images/

Planning a Sustainable Plantation for Wood Production

REPORT OFFERS SOLUTIONS TO EXPAND SUSTAINABLE TROPICAL WOOD PRODUCTION

FOREST PLANTATIONS ARE AMONG SOLUTIONS

WASHINGTON (Sept.4, 2012) – The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today released a report, "Wood for Good: Solutions for Deforestation-Free Wood Products," analyzing tropical wood production's effect on deforestation and offering solutions for sustainable production. According to the report, governments and businesses must begin using sustainably established plantation forests to minimize the toll logging is taking on tropical forests.

Many of the products used every day by American businesses and consumers are made from tropical wood, including paper, furniture, building material and shipping supplies.

"The demand for tropical wood is growing globally, while more and more of the world's tropical forests are disappearing," said Pipa Elias, UCS consultant and the report's author. "It is 100 percent possible to harvest timber in the tropics profitably and sustainably. The main roadblock is a lack of political will. Businesses and consumers must demand responsibly manufactured products – giving governments and wood producers an incentive to expand sustainability efforts."

The report outlines a threefold solution. Firstly, wood producers and businesses should turn to responsible plantation forests to harvest wood. Plantation forests established on previously degraded lands should be used for wood production and sustainable forest management practices – such as protecting water and wildlife – should be followed. Plantations forests tend to grow faster than timber in natural forests and more of the wood can be harvested. Using already-cleared areas would help meet market demand for wood, while protecting primary forests. Secondly, the report also calls on governments to institute policies that make sustainable forest management practice attractive to businesses.

And finally, governments, businesses and consumers should demand products certified by programs such as the Forest Stewardship Council and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. While these programs do not prohibit logging from old growth forests, they are the best option currently available for maintaining the profitability of the wood industry while protecting forests.

"Consumers certainly have an important role to play in safeguarding tropical forests," said Elias. "Small, everyday choices like recycling and reducing the demand for new wood absolutely help to protect tropical forests."

In addition to purchasing products that were made, packaged and transported using sustainably sourced wood, decreasing paper use at home helps reduce demand, Elias said. Consumers should buy in bulk to reduce packaging waste, swap paper towels for washcloths, pay bills electronically, and request to be removed from unwanted mailing lists.

Tropical forests are not only home to plants, animals and indigenous communities, but these habitats also purify air and water, and provide food and medicine for millions of people.

Cutting down natural forests also contributes to climate change. Tropical deforestation is responsible for about 15 percent of the world's heat-trapping emissions – more carbon pollution than the emissions from every car, truck, plane, ship and train on Earth.

"Tropical forests should be filled with the sound of howling monkeys and chirping birds, but when these resources are unmanaged, such sounds are replaced with buzzing chainsaws and falling trees," said Elias. "To reverse the damage caused by deforestation, governments and businesses must work together to integrate sustainability and profitability."

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"Wood for Good" is the third installment in a UCS series of reports highlighting business, government, and consumer solutions for deforestation-free goods. The first report, "Recipes for Success," gave solutions for deforestation-free vegetable oils. The second report, "Grade A Choice?" examines solutions for deforestation-free meat.

The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world.  Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. For more information, go to www.ucsusa.org.