High-Performance Window Demonstrates Berkeley Lab-to-Market Success

After several years of a research and development relationship, one of the largest window and door replacement companies in the U.S. announced the national launch of a new high-performance glass option for select replacement windows. The new glass option offers a “thin-glass” triple-pane glazing element that makes the window five times more insulating than a single-pane window, based upon a typical single-pane wood window performance of 1.0 Btu/hr-ft 2 -℉.

 

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has been working with Andersen Corporation and its window replacement division, Renewal by Andersen, for several years to build and test enhanced prototypes of the thin-glass triple-pane window suitable for large-scale manufacture. Renewal by Andersen’s national launch is a significant milestone in Berkeley Lab’s effort to advance from a research prototype to a marketable product that can provide energy savings across the U.S.

 

“Our successful relationship with Andersen Corporation goes back to the 1980s when we collaborated with them on the first big change in window energy efficiency technology – low-emissivity window coatings,” said Stephen Selkowitz, now a retired Affiliate in Berkeley Lab’s Energy Technologies Area (ETA). “Most window companies were reticent to add the new low-E coated glazing in their windows but Andersen saw the potential and was one of our first allies to adopt the new technology. Now, more than 30 years later, those low-E windows have captured almost 90% market share across the entire industry. We hope that this relationship with Andersen and Renewal by Andersen’s recent market launch of the thin-triple glass option will have similar impacts. We believe this technology will help to create billions of dollars per year in new energy savings in buildings across the country.”

 

The full-service window replacement division of Andersen Corporation, Renewal by Andersen, plans to market thin triple-pane glass direct to homeowners. “Our commitment to being good stewards of our natural resources is a core value of Andersen Corporation,” said Director of Quality and Research at Renewal by Andersen, Kate Graham. “By investing in thin-triple pane glass and marketing the benefits to our customers, we believe our homeowners will help reduce energy consumption and see additional savings in home energy costs and experience a more comfortable living space. We are grateful for our long-standing relationship with Berkeley Lab. We hope Andersen’s leadership embracing this innovation will encourage other manufacturers to

follow our lead and invest in new technologies that will continue to revolutionize our industry.”

 

Berkeley Lab, which has an extensive history of success in window research and development, invented and patented the “thin-triple” window concept 30 years ago. Conventional triple-pane windows have existed on the market since the early 1980s, but they have not been widely adopted because they required wider, heavier, more costly frames. What differentiates Berkeley Lab’s thin-glass triple-pane window design from other triple-pane windows is that they are designed to easily replace existing double-glazed windows without having to modify the window frame, making them a more cost-effective market-ready technology.