Eliminating Commercialization Barriers of Affordable Vacuum Windows

Problem: Windows represent over 40% of home heat loss but only 8% of the wall surface area. Vacuum Insulating Glass (VIG), a flat vacuum bottle for windows, can dramatically reduce this loss. The single greatest barrier to rapid mass market penetration by VIG is high manufacturing cost. In the quarter century since commercial introduction of vacuum glass in 1998, VIGs remain 4X the cost of dual pane. This is because VIG manufacturing still uses ovens, which are inherently slow, a bottleneck to high throughput. Approach: V-Glass is developing an affordable VIG produced with an oven-free manufacturing process based on a unique metal foil edge seal ultrasonically welded to glass. To eliminate the key remaining barriers to commercialization and reduce investor risk, in Phase I V-Glass proposes to a) validate successful VIG size scaleup by completing an ASTM-E2190 test at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on a VIG of size equal to the median-size of the U.S. residential market, b) validate a key cost forecast assumption, that is, the cycle time for an oven-free degassing process will not be a ôbottleneckö to achieving forecast cost, and c) validate potential for rapid market penetration should the cost forecast be achieved. In Phase II, reducing total process cycle time to achieve pricing competitive with dual pane will remain the focus. Commercial Applications/Benefits: The initial application will be in the residential housing market, followed by expansion into commercial buildings. The benefits of widespread adoption of our technology will eventually include: Ľ Save over 2% of all energy used in the U.S. Ľ Facilitate the DOE roadmap goal of zero energy buildings. Ľ Facilitate U.S. leadership in the $67B per year worldwide insulating glass market. Ľ Extend the life of natural gas reserves. Ľ Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, without the need for government subsidies. Ľ Improve building occupant comfort. Ľ Enhance manageability of electric grid by lowering peak energy demand. Ľ Reduce the up-front cost of other building efficient technologies, such as ground-source heat pump systems. Ľ Produce US jobs with good salaries.