The PV wave is coming

摘要

As everyone is aware, the limited supply of energy and never-ending escalating fuel costs have created a growing demand for more efficient building materials. The development of energy efficiency in glass products arguably took root in the 1950s with the introduction of insulating glass on a commercial scale. A lot of developments have taken place since then including but not limited to tinted glass, low-emissivity coatings, gas filling, thermally broken aluminum, and vinyl windows to name a few. I recall a meeting with people from the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) in the early 1990s where we were discussing the development of more energy-efficient windows. They told me then that if a window could achieve an R-value of 8, it would actually become a source of energy gain in a house as opposed to being an energy loser. At the time, I didn't think there would ever be a window produced that would get close to that kind of performance. The windows we were making then at Fulton Windows would get an R-2 at best.