Jun 24 2010
Southwall Technologies Inc., (OTCBB:SWTX), the worldwide innovator of high performance, energy-saving films and glass products, has been awarded a $1.43 million stimulus grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop advanced technologies aimed at making homes and buildings more energy efficient.
Southwall will use the funding to accelerate development of higher performance and lower cost Heat Mirror low-emissivity and solar-reflective films and multi-cavity, suspended-film insulating glass technology to enable the broad commercialization of “super-insulating” R-10 windows.
According to DOE, the nation’s 114 million homes and 74 million square feet of commercial floor space account for 40 percent of US total energy consumption and 39 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions. Because windows are the energy-efficiency weak link in homes and buildings, DOE is focusing grant funding on the development of innovative technologies that can create energy-saving windows that insulate like walls.
Heat Mirror insulating glass suspends up to three low-emissivity and solar-reflective Heat Mirror films to create multiple, lightweight insulating cavities that enable a new generation of energy-efficient windows.
“The designation of Southwall as a DOE grant recipient recognizes our leadership in developing lightweight, multi-cavity insulating glass technology that promises to drive the performance of a new generation of cost-effective and energy-efficient windows,” said Dennis Capovilla, Southwall chief executive officer. “We are pleased that DOE is working closely with industry to accelerate disruptive technology innovation that can dramatically reduce our nation’s energy use.”
Southwall is one of seven California-based companies, including National Semiconductor and Applied Materials, to receive a coveted DOE grant for advanced energy-efficient building technology projects.
About Heat Mirror Suspended Film Technology
Heat Mirror insulating glass is a superior multi-cavity solution that suspends one or more low-emissivity and solar-reflective Heat Mirror films inside of an insulating glass unit to create two, three or even four insulating cavities without adding weight. This innovative approach enables window fabricators to offer higher performance glass options for their existing window systems today as well as for next-generation window systems in development. Heat Mirror suspended film technology combines the best of film-based and glass-based technologies to create the industry's first "super glass" that enables a new generation of cost-effective R-10 windows. Southwall's Heat Mirror® suspended-film insulating glass has been selected to be retrofitted into all 6,500 windows in New York’s Empire State Building as a leading component of a major energy efficiency upgrade.
Source: http://www.southwall.com/