New SageGlass Performance and Control Innovations Debut at AIA Convention 2015
May 15, 2015 | By Business Wire News
ATLANTA
SageGlass®, a product of Saint-Gobain, today demonstrated at the AIA Convention 2015 new product enhancements and customer installations that greatly extend the technology and market leadership of the dynamic glass industry pioneer.
SageGlass will also be celebrating 350 years of sustainable building innovation as part of a year-long global tour highlighting the 350th anniversary of its parent company. Saint-Gobain got its start in the glass business in 1665 when it was commissioned to make the glass for the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in Paris. In 2012, SAGE Electrochromics, Inc. became part of Saint-Gobain’s rich history of strategic acquisitions designed to bring dynamic SageGlass to the commercial building market.
The new SageGlass capabilities on display at AIA reflect the company’s focus on driving performance, control and innovation for customers seeking solutions to difficult sun control problems. For instance, the company demonstrated that SageGlass is now available in large architectural sizes with or without a center bus bar – a thin electrical conduit through the middle of the pane that helps the glass achieve the industry’s fastest tint switching speeds. The “no center bus bar” option offers architects and building owners yet another design alternative for large glass sizes up to 5 x 10 feet.
Adding to its array of design options, SageGlass also debuted at AIA the world’s first electronically tintable dynamic glass that lets customers tint many different kinds of shapes and patterns within their windows, skylights and curtain walls. The demonstration at the booth of a unique tinted pattern of SageGlass lets architects and building owners specify a variety of geometrically shaped tinting zones on a single pane of glass – from triangles, trapezoids and parallelograms; even chevrons, diamonds and other shapes. It lets them configure and control unique patterns of tintable glass for optimizing daylight while creating custom building envelopes. In addition to creating a variety of tinting patterns within the glass, the SageGlass insulating glass unit (IGU) itself is available in a variety of architectural appealing shapes.
To provide greater control for dynamic glass tinting, SageGlass also demoed for the first time its new mobile app. The iOS- and Android-compatible app gives users unprecedented control for customizing and optimizing daylight for comfort inside buildings from the convenience of their mobile device. It enables users to control and tint specific zones within a SageGlass window, as well as orchestrate customized daylighting “scenes” by controlling the tinting of the zones. The pre-established zoning can range from an entire building facade, to a single SageGlass window.
“Our R&D efforts have focused on eliminating the tradeoffs between design and functionality when using dynamic glass,” said Alan McLenaghan, CEO of SageGlass. “When you consider all the performance, control, shape, tinting and other innovations we’ve introduced, no other dynamic glass product can match SageGlass for configurability, flexibility and performance.”
New customer
SAGE also highlighted at the AIA Convention the solar control achievement of its latest customer, the Museum of Science, Boston. The Museum retrofitted a three-story, single-paned glass curtain wall overlooking Boston’s storied Charles River basin with SageGlass.
Low angle sun, particularly in the winter months, poured in directly through the curtain wall as well as reflected off the river deep into the lobby of the Museum, compromising the visitor experience. SageGlass eliminated the glare problem without compromising the iconic views of the Charles River. And, by letting sunlight in on cool days and blocking it on hot days, it dramatically reduces energy demand.
Learning Lab presentations
Several SAGE employees are also presenting courses on advanced glazing technologies at the CertainTeed Learning Lounge during the AIA Convention.
Dr. Helen Sanders, SageGlass’ Vice President of Technical Business Development, teamed with Dr. Pekka Hakkarainen, Vice President at Lutron Electronics, to educate attendees on Integrated Window & Lighting Systems Help Meet Challenging Building Codes.
Attendees learned about recent advances in envelope and daylighting technology, DOE initiatives, and building standards and codes to detail a future vision of commercial building design. The session, which took place yesterday, examined how dynamic fenestration systems are allowing building owners for the first time to actively control the building envelope depending on weather related factors.
Lance Kling, LEED AP and Business Development Representative at SageGlass, will present on Electrochromic Glazing – Dynamic Control of Solar Energy. The session will explore how electrochromic glazing provides a dynamic solution to control solar heat gain and light, while preserving the view and connection to the outdoors. This course will also detail how electrochromic glazing can be used to meter and control the amount of light and solar energy entering a building to provide optimum daylighting and energy efficiency. Kling’s presentation will be on Saturday, May 16th, 12:30PM – 1:30 PM.
For more information about SageGlass, visit booth #4051 at AIA Conference 2015, May 14-16, in Atlanta.
About SageGlass
SageGlass®, a product of Saint-Gobain, is advanced dynamic glass that can be electronically tinted or cleared to optimize daylight and improve the human experience in buildings. SageGlass manages the sunlight and heat that enter a building, significantly reducing energy consumption while improving people’s comfort and well-being. It can reduce a building’s cooling load by 20% and HVAC requirements up to 30%. It is a smarter, more elegant solution than conventional sun controls such as mechanical window shades, blinds and louvers. With SageGlass you can control sunlight and glare without shades or blinds while maintaining the view and connection to the outdoors. SageGlass is manufactured in Faribault, Minn., in the heart of “the Silicon Valley of the window industry,” and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain of Paris, the world’s largest building materials company.
About Saint-Gobain in North America
Saint-Gobain has its North American headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. As the world leader in sustainable habitat, Saint-Gobain is committed to inventing solutions to help professionals and communities around the world build and renovate comfortable, healthy, economical and energy-efficient buildings. The company has more than 250 locations in North America and approximately 15,000 employees. In the United States and Canada, Saint-Gobain reported sales of approximately $6.2 billion in 2014.
Recognized as a 2009 and 2010 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Saint-Gobain earned the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award, the highest level of recognition for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. For more information about Saint-Gobain in North America, visit www.saint-gobain-northamerica.com and connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter.
About Saint-Gobain
In 2015, Saint-Gobain is celebrating its 350th anniversary, 350 reasons to believe in the future. Backed by its experience and its capacity to continuously innovate, Saint-Gobain, the world leader in the habitat and construction market, designs, manufactures and distributes high-performance and building materials providing innovative solutions to the challenges of growth, energy efficiency and environmental protection. With 2014 sales of $54.6 billion, Saint-Gobain operates in 64 countries and has over 180,000 employees. For more information about Saint-Gobain, visit https://www.saint-gobain.com/en and the twitter account @saintgobain.
For more information about SageGlass please visit:
Website: www.sageglass.com
Blog: http://sageglass.com/blog/
Twitter: twitter.com/Sage_Glass
Facebook: Facebook.com/SageGlass
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/sage-electrochromics-inc.
YouTube: Youtube.com/SAGEElectrochromics
For SageGlass
Ed Marshall, 603-559-5816
emarshall@brodeur.com