Empire State Building’s Windows Technology Now Being Sold for Commercial Use

by | Mar 7, 2011

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Serious Materials’ energy efficiency technology for windows, used in the high-profile retrofitting of the Empire State Building, is now being sold for commercial properties.

The iWindow is a thin material frame containing the company’s own SeriousGlass, which is installed on the inside of existing windows. This then improves the thermal performance of single pane aluminum systems. The company says that by warming glass temperatures in the winter and cooling glass in the summer, the iWindow can help building owners change temperature setpoints, reducing heating and air conditioning costs.

The iWindow evolved in part out of Serious Materials’ work on the Empire State Building renovation.

In that project, Serious Materials replaced 96 percent of the building’s 6,514 windows, rebuilding them using the original panes of glass but adding in spacers, a gas fill and a layer of coated film.

The $20 million energy retrofit project, primarily funded by energy and operational savings, is expected to reduce energy use by up to 38 percent, cut energy costs by $4.4 million annually, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 105,000 metric tons over the next 15 years according.

The retrofit, due to complete in 2013, will make the skyscraper more energy efficient than 90 percent of all office buildings, Serious Windows says.

Its product is available in a range of solar heat gain measurements, so it can be customized to a building’s location and orientation relative to the sun. Fine-turning the amount of solar heat that gets into the building helps to further increase thermal efficiency, Serious Materials says.

The manufacturer says an iWindow can be put in place in 20 minutes, without replacing the existing glass or altering the exterior appearance, making the product ideal for renovations of historic projects. Installation is priced at a fraction of the cost cost of full window replacements, the company says.

The Empire State Building recently signed on with Green Mountain Energy for a 100% renewable energy package.

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