Super Lite Windows 11

[Ben Hollinbeck]

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Selkowitz believes the new thin triple super window could save even more. Current double-glazed windows consist of two layers of glass with a low-e coating and argon gas in the gap between the glass layers to further reduce heat transfer. The innovation of the Berkeley Lab super window is threefold: It inserts a third layer of very thin glass sandwiched between the two layers of a double-glazed window, adds a second low-e coating, and replaces the argon gas with krypton gas, which is much more insulating than argon in the very narrow space between the panes.

While there are other triple-glazed windows on the market, the virtue of this one is that it is the same width and virtually the same weight as existing double-glazed windows. This avoids having to redesign the window sash and frame, which would pose a significant cost obstacle to market penetration.

Energy use associated with all aspects of window performance, including heating and cooling, costs U.S. building owners about $50 billion annually. The single largest contributor to building energy use is heat loss in colder climates. In warmer climates, uncontrolled sunlight transmitted through windows adds to air conditioning costs.

The super window was in fact invented and patented by Berkeley Lab more than 20 years ago. But at the time, there were no viable sources of large sheets of very thin glass, and the cost of the materials made it prohibitively expensive.

Still, electrochromic windows, at about five to eight times the cost of the super window, are considered a high-end specialty item and are just beginning to enter markets. The low-e coating, on the other hand, is now in nearly 90 percent of all windows sold.

The challenge in getting there, Hart said, was not only the scientific innovation in coating design but also overcoming marketplace barriers. To make the case, Berkeley Lab researchers created lab and field test facilities to measure window energy efficiency, and also provided design and validation software tools used by industry and a nonprofit organization, the National Fenestration Rating Council, to rate windows. Low-e coatings have saved the country $150 billion in energy costs in homes, compared to a base case with conventional double glazing.

Today, R-5 windows are aspirational for many, but not really that special in the windows market. But instead of pushing past that, we are seeing more emphasis on proper design by orientation, shading, and window-to-wall ratios, and on buying the best windows for each application according to the budget.

it really isn't that complicated

there are more details in ordering a burger king whopper and choosing amongst all the condiments

burger king has invested in the order management and advertising to make it easy, the window company and lumber yard hasn't

and for good reason. it is easier to sell high priced items when price is not part of the comparison.

you create a window, quote a price, claim its on sale, and the customer really has no choice but to take it or try their luck elsewhere. making the process time consuming encourages them not to go through it again elsewhere.

On low bid shopping

I have to disagree. The complexity of window specs is a reality, an inevitable result of the significant competing developments in window technology as documented above. A shopper, even an experienced one, can easily make expensive mistakes without good guidance from the supplier. That means the supplier is running a service business, not a commodity business, and you can't provide decent service on the tightest of competitive margins. How do the builders amongst you like bidding against the local low-bid truck jockey who you know will screw up the job and end up costing the client much more in the long run?

"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.

Chinese windows to the rescue?

Currently North America has 37 active float glass plants, with the newest float plant (Cardinal's Winlock Washington facility) opening about 6 years ago. China currently has over 110 floats either operating or under construction.

The last I heard, something like 11 of the Chinese float lines fabricate glass that would meet North American quality specifications. Much of the glass from the higher quality plants is intended primarily for export.

It takes about twice as long and costs about double to build a float line in North America than it does in China primarily due to evironmental considerations. The Cardinal plant in Winlock is currently the "cleanest" (lowest emissions) float plant in the world.

Chinese windows are readily available in North America for people who are looking for a bargain. Sam's Club, for example, does a thriving business in them, and they are becoming much more common on the west coast - particulary in the southern Califormia. It is curious how a window made in China and shipped to North America can be less expensive than a window manufactured locally, but that is a fact for people looking to save a few bucks.

There is also a lot of glass being imported from China. Again it is amazing that glass (and glass is very heavy and very bulky and requires a lot of care in shipping to see that it arrives unbroken), imported from China into the Pacific northwest can be less expensive than glass coming off a line from a plant within 100 miles.

I have had the opportunity to work with something like 40 different window and/or door companies (all North American except two German and one Chinese) in product development and testing over the last 15 years or so.

One thing I have learned over the years is that while every North American (and German, but in their case they just assumed that their product was superior already) company that I have personally dealt with truly wanted to manufacture the best possible window or door that they could within the scope of their product line or business (without exception the folks that I dealt with really believed in what they were doing). The Chinese folks that I dealt with had a slightly different philosophy.

When I brought it to the attention of the company representitives their first comment was "do we meet minimum standards?" When I told them no, in my opinion they did not meet even minimum standards, their reply was "there are ways to get around that if you know the right people."

Can I point out that I see considerable movement to windows with high solar heat gain to take advantage off all that "free solar energy" in Passivhaus or ZEB projects. As we are learning (and as Martin had commented on earlier), it wouldn't be too hard to set up a "summer overheating" scenario, or other mis-applications. This new breed of "super window" really needs to be designed into the application while overhangs and operable exterior shading is taken into account.

That's where i lost the thread of where your going. On the one hand, you (and I) are excited to see more progress in highly efficient products, but on the other hand your kind of asking that the selection process gets "dumbed down" and easier.

I'm in the process of setting up my small company as the Regional dealer for the German window Optiwin for the Pacific Northwest. I just got back from visiting the plant in Germany. We are all working hard to bring both the current and planned new innovative windows and doors to our the area.

I'd like to suggest a that there should be a distinction between how "easy" we expect it to be when choosing a "super window" Vs. a "frame with a glazing unit in it... would you like low e with that?".

If anything I am asking for more complication in some ways. Part of the point I tried to make here is that "superwindows" with ever-greater U-factor are not the future. The future is climate- and building-specific applications that have carefully selected but not necessarily off-the-charts performance numbers. That may be harder to do than simply training everyone to look for better and better NFRC numbers.

I submit that there are a lot of consumers and even builders out there who for one reason or another need things to be a bit more accessible, and those people equally need a quality home, and for the sake of our planet we want them to have a quality home.

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