The Minnesota-based inventor of an international breakthrough glass innovation – a window that can be switched on or off to reject up to 98% of the sun“s heat and light on demand – Sage Electrochromi…
The Minnesota-based inventor of an international breakthrough glass innovation – a window that can be switched on or off to reject up to 98% of the sun“s heat and light on demand – Sage Electrochromics – has received USD 103 million from the Obama administration Department of Energy. At the beginning of 2010, the company was one of the recipients of the Recovery Act funded Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits (for USD 31 million), and has now been offered an additional USD 72 million loan guarantee to help it invest in a 250,000-sq.ft. volume manufacturing facility to increase operations for the production of energy-saving glass. This investment will help cut utility bills, reduce carbon pollution, and create jobs our economy needs, said Energy Secretary Secretary Chu in granting the loan guarantee. It“s a perfect example of the power of American innovation to create a stronger economy and a healthier planet. The company had been working with the NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) to develop and perfect its special glass that can be switched on to allow only 3.5% of heat and light in, in its tinted state, thus eliminating almost all solar heat gain on hot afternoons, and reducing building energy use by as much as 28%. SageGlass is made the same way that regular energy-efficient low-E glass is made, coating regular glass with layers of metal oxides. The company then manipulates how the glass absorbs or reflects light and heat from the sun by shooting a low-voltage current though the coatings. This breakthrough makes passive solar design much more effective, such as porches or overhangs over large south facing windows, which can contribute in cooling in Summer and heating in winter free. Moreover, when the tint is turned on, it is virtually impossible to see inside, giving many more people, in an increasingly crowded world, the privacy and visual connection to the world outside.