Introduce the subject of green living in Scotland, even briefly, and fuel economy or loft insulation typically spring to mind, but in fact triple glazing is perhaps where we should be looking first - just like our jersey-wearing, Baltic-cold Nordic cousins.

Heat can certainly be lost in huge measure through a badly-insulated loft, but a window doesn’t have to be “draughty” to add its own constant drain on domestic heat.

The whole issue has taken on a special dynamic, because the government aims to make all newbuild homes carbon neutral by 2016, and in that context windows suddenly become very important.

Heat loss is measured in U-values and, while walls have a U-value as low as 0.3, old double glazing can have a rating as high as 3.0, and single glazing can be almost double that.   The solution is scientifically Scandinavian and also Canadian - since Canada’s deep-freeze winter climate obviously calls for cutting edge solutions.

Triple glazing is becoming “smarter” with the evolution of new technology, and while some double glazing sees the space between the panes filled with argon, triple glazing - “frozen north style” - takes the whole process an important step farther.

Check out, for example the website of a market-leading firm like Everest to see how some of these ideas are set to become mainstream practice in shivering Scotland.

What do pundits specializing in green homes issues say? Cutting through the stats and the jargon, it’s reckoned - plausibly - that triple windows can garner almost as much heat as the walls containing them, while special coatings on the pane gather natural sunrays to provide an extra, completely free, increment of heat energy.

Besides the glazing, improvements to frames help to complete this rosy eco-picture by eliminating the heat loss of aluminium frames and replacing these with more efficient alternatives.

The main benefit of this sort of enhancement is straightforward cash, because energy bills - one of our prime national bugbears, forever on the increase - can be kept within reasonable limits.

Meanwhile, in a market where “green” compliance has become a saleable commodity the home with advanced insulation - keeping the elements at bay, cutting energy use and expense - has an added value that is both implicit and actual.

The “completely” green home is still out of reach for many or most of us, as a tour of any of the showpiece ideal eco-friendly home will reveal, but when you consider how glazing has really only taken off in the last few decades it’s possible to see how far we have already come.

Scandinavia is a conspicuous field leader in super-smart ecological ways of improving everyday domestic living, and to a large extent we’ve been playing catch up - but with increasing enthusiasm, given the cost of fuel.

However what’s arguably most impressive is that these innovations are aimed at the mainstream, not merely a section of the urban housing mix.

That now appears to be happening here too, thanks to a combination of massive demand for an economic fuel solution, and the increased value and appeal of “green” properties.

It’s fairly likely a forward-looking lady like Ms Nyborg would approve.

For more information visit: http://www.everest.co.uk/ - visit Everest to see what triple glazing options they have for you and your home http://www.which.co.uk/ - see reviews and expert opinions on green technologies and companies https://www.eonenergy.com/for-your-home/saving-energy - see what one of the UK’s leading energy companies is doing to cut your bills