Michael L. Rupert, director, performance glazings technical services and product development, PPG Industries, has won the Shades of Green Leadership Award from the Green Building Alliance in Pittsburg…
Michael L. Rupert, director, performance glazings technical services and product development, PPG Industries, has won the Shades of Green Leadership Award from the Green Building Alliance in Pittsburgh. Mr. Rupert was recognized for his leadership of the PPG team that developed Solarban 70XL solar control low-emissivity glass. Introduced in 2005 at US Green Building Council“s International GreenBuild Conference, Solarban 70XL glass offered a major advance in glass technology with its unprecedented combination of solar control and visible light transmittance in a transparent, color-neutral glass. Solarban 70XL transmits 63% of the sun“s natural light while blocking 73% of its solar energy in a standard one-inch insulating glass unit. The resulting light-to-solar gain (LSG) ratio of 2.37 represents a 29% performance enhancement over the previous state-of-the-art solar control low-e glass. Mark J. Orcutt, PPG vice president, performance glazings, said he was proud of Solarban 70XL glass and the product development team. “We are pleased to contribute significant savings to bottom-line energy costs for building owners and to be part of the building industry“s ongoing nationwide effort to reduce energy consumption,” he added. Mr. Rupert is a 33-year veteran of the PPG performance glazings technical and product development team. The introduction of Solarban 70XL glass was the result of his three-year leadership effort, which encompassed every aspect of the product“s development, from identifying customer needs and expectations to overseeing research and development to assisting in the actual product launch in the marketplace. The Shades of Green Leadership Awards are given annually by the Green Building Alliance in Pittsburgh to highlight the efforts of distinctive persons in Western Pennsylvania who have contributed to the region“s environmental transformation through green leadership.