Winners of Building Envelope Innovation Prize focus on secondary glazing

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced the winners of the first phase of the Building Envelope Innovation Prize. The prize targets high-performance, cost-effective secondary glazing systems to improve efficiency of commercial windows.

The prize aims to enable equitable decarbonization and optimize building envelopes for electrification. Seven participating firms focused on secondary glazing involving installing an additional windowpane on an existing window to improve insulation while minimizing cost and disruption.

“About 40% of commercial buildings have single-pane windows, which provide a thinner barrier between the occupant and the outside than multipaned systems,” says Hayes Jones, acting director of DOE’s Building Technology Office. “This means higher energy costs and unwanted outside noise compared with multipaned windows. Despite that, less than 1% of windows are replaced annually because of high cost and occupant disturbance. Secondary glazing systems offer a less disruptive, more affordable opportunity to increase efficiency and indoor comfort than full window replacement.”

The winning teams will now proceed to Phase 2, in which they will produce window unit prototypes. Phase 2 winners will proceed to Phase 3, where they will transform their prototypes into commercially viable, technically credible products that can be used in real-world applications.

Allan Bilka, RA, is a Senior Staff Architect and Secretariat to the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) with the International Code Council, based in the ICC’s Chicago district office. He also serves as staff liaison to the ICC-700 National Green Building Standard. He has written several ICC white papers on green building and numerous green-related articles for the ICC. A registered architect, Bilka has over 30 years of combined residential design/build and commercial consulting engineering experience.