Message #21 From:
NewsBot Date: February 27, 2008 08:08:56 AM
Southwall's Heat Mirror Insulating Glass Achieves Insulation Value of R-20/U-0.05 . . . Equal to the Insulation of a Solid Wall
Available for Residential & Commercial Applications in Windows, Doors &
Fixed Glass
Southwall Technologies, Inc., the worldwide innovator of high
performance, energy-saving films and glass products, announced today the
ability of Heat Mirror® insulating glass to
insulate against heat loss at a record breaking R-20/U-0.05 insulation
value.
R-20 Heat Mirror insulating glass consists of three heat reflective
coated films mounted inside an insulating glass unit between two pieces
of low-e coated glass. This super insulating glass construction creates
four heat-impeding gas-filled cavities and achieves R-20 performance
when used in conjunction with a thermally insulated fiberglass frame.
Heat Mirror R-20 is a product of Alpen Energy Systems, a leading
Southwall customer licensed to fabricate Heat Mirror insulating glass.
“This astounding achievement in energy
efficiency is a tribute to the collaborative team effort of Southwall
and its window and insulating glass customers who jointly push the
envelope in enhancing the performance and value of Heat Mirror
technology,” said John Meade, Southwall’s
Director of Business Development
Superior to any low-e glass currently available, Heat Mirror is a
technologically advanced low emissivity and solar reflective film that
can be mounted inside an insulating glass unit in a variety of
configurations (one, two or three coated films, uncoated or low-e coated
glass) to provide energy conservation performance ranging from R-6 to
R-20 to meet the unique requirements of commercial and residential new
construction and renovation projects.
Heat Mirror is the technological alternative to coated glass that
extends performance well beyond that of generic low-e glass available
today. Heat Mirror insulating glass, as well as other innovative glass
technologies currently under development, is driving the US Department
of Energy to revise the glass performance standards of its Energy Star
program that rates the energy efficiency of appliances and building
components.
Scheduled to debut as early as 2009, revised Energy Star glass
performance standards will make clear that generic low-e glass, with a
maximum insulating performance level of R-4, no longer represents a
level of energy efficiency required to “transform
the market”, a key charter of the agency’s
ratings and standards program. Among Energy Star’s
objectives is increased market penetration of windows achieving
insulating performance of R-10 by 2010, an objective readily achieved by
Heat Mirror technology today.
Why is increasing the energy efficiency of glass important? According to
Chris Mathis, a founding member of the National Fenestration Rating
Council (NFRC), which sets standards for window energy efficiency, 64
percent of the 110 million existing homes in the US have single-pane
windows. This contributes 25%-35% of the total energy wasted in
buildings and 10% of the total carbon emissions in the US annually.
Southwall Technologies, Inc., (OTCBB:SWTX) introduced the world’s
first low-e coated glass product in 1981, a pioneering technology
recognized in 2000 by Popular Science magazine as one of the "Top
100 Inventions of the Millennium.” Southwall’s
Heat Mirror insulating glass units are available from over 50 window and
insulating glass manufacturers worldwide.
