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Seeing Green at GPD
Energy efficiency tops conference agenda in Finland
Tampere, Finland—Glass and IG component suppliers, equipment makers and everyone in between seemed to have one thing on their minds during this year’s Glass Performance Days—energy efficiency. The biennial international conference gathered nearly 1,000 glass industry representatives from more than 60 countries.
The glass industry’s close connection to energy efficiency presents great growth opportunities, said Mika Seitovirta, president and CEO of Finland’s Glaston Corp., which organizes the event. “So many other industries are desperately searching for something green,” he said. “We are right there already. There’s a great future ahead.”
The glass industry already offers many tools to curb global climate change, added Arthur Ulens, president of AGC Flat Glass and CEO of Glaverbel in Brussels, during the opening session.
Formerly known as Glass Processing Days, the event was re-named this year to better reflect the energy efficiency focus. “It gives us a better description of the real objective of our conference,” said Jorma Vitkala, chairman of the GPD organizing committee.
On the residential side, presentation topics ranged from energy ratings to better use of existing technologies, longer-lasting IG units and the need to educate the market. The event, which ran June 15-18, also featured a wide range of discussions covering new glass technologies.
One such technology is a vacuum insulating glass production line under development at Germany’s Grenzebach Maschinenbau GmbH. While several companies have vacuum glass products, none has made notable progress into the market, said the company’s Wolfgang Friedl. The Grenzebach line, set to be operational in 2009, would produce VIG with a low U-value of less than .4 (metric). “The potential is huge for VIG,” Friedl said. “Still today, more than 60 percent of buildings are equipped with monolithic glazing. VIG is very slim and can be used in new and existing buildings as a replacement for monolithic.”
There are many products already on the market that greatly improve a window system’s efficiency—they just have to be used correctly, said Chris Barry, technical services director for Pilkington North America in Toledo, Ohio, during his presentation covering selection of low-E glass for residential glazing in heating dominated climates. “Many people don’t realize that there’s more than one type of low-E,” Barry said. “If you pay a lot of money to keep your house cool, you should have a coating that keeps light out. If you pay more on heat, then use a coating that let’s the free heat in.”
While new green products are important for the market, the industry needs to improve its customer communication before new technologies can gain ground in the market, said Craig Wesley, vice president of high-performance glass solutions for Southwall Technologies in Palo Alto, Calif.
“There’s so much work to be done with technology. But, there’s also a lot of work to be done with our customers,” Wesley said. “We need to find a way to educate. This is the work done at the kitchen table, explaining to a homeowner why these products should be used. It’s critical that we are able to articulate this to our customers.”
Peter Spencer, European technical services manager for CP Films of Martinsville, Va., talked about another existing product, window films. Spencer said window films provide a great aftermarket solution for homeowners with a short payback period.
“A big challenge of energy conservation is with existing buildings. This is where films do a great job,” he said. “Films have easy installation and offer an immediate effect for savings.”
Many existing buildings feature monolithic glass, or clear, air-filled insulating units, making films an effective solution. Spencer estimated savings between 4 percent and 10 percent, with payback in 3 to 5 years.
Energy savings also comes by producing longer-lasting products, said Gerhard Reichert, vice president of business development for Edgetech I.G. Inc. of Cambridge, Ohio. In his presentation about improving long-term energy performance of IG, he focused on new spacers that can extend the life of an insulating glass unit by preventing failures of the primary seal.
Most IG units have a life expectancy of 20 to 30 years. “IG in the future can be made more sustainable in the long term,” Reichert said. “We’ve developed new ways of applying poly-isobutylene so you don’t get the stresses and the movement that cause failures. The PIB cannot deform over time.”
Contributed by Katy Devlin, editor of e-glass weekly, WDweekly's sister publication
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