SAGE Electrochromics

The appliance of glass┬áSAGE Electrochromics has made a difference in that ubiquitous commodity, the window, changing it from a passive to an active component and making it into an appliance that both manages the buildingÔÇÖs energy and generates comfort, Helen Sanders and Lou Podbelski tell John OÔÇÖHanlon. It was only a matter of time before glass, which forms a significant part of the face that any building presents to the elements, stopped being a static medium that merely transmits light and became a dynamic participant in the performance we ask from modern buildings.┬á SAGE Electrochromics has an academic heritage. The technology was born in a small laboratory in Valley Cottage, New York in 1989, then the company moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey to form an R&D partnership with the Center for Ceramic Research, at Rutgers University. After several years of R&D, the companyÔÇÖs founder and CEO, John Van Dine, based the company at Faribault, Minnesota, ÔÇ£the Silicon Valley of the window industryÔÇØ in 1998.SAGE spent the next five years refining its production processes and further developing and testing its products in its pilot line facility. Samples from this operation were tested over the years by several third parties, including the US Department of Energy, and deployed to numerous beta sites around the country to be evaluated in real-life applications. The technology is simple and effective. SageGlass insulating glass is electronically tintable glass that can be switched from a clear, highly transmitting state to a darkly tinted state, transmitting between 3.5 and 62 percent of visible light, and back again at the touch of a button. It can be operated manually or integrated into an automated building management system. The glass is ÔÇ£sputterÔÇØ coated, using a vacuum deposition process with five very thin layers of ceramic materials. When a low direct current is applied across the coatings, ions travel from one layer to another, where a reversible solid-state change takes place, causing the coating to tint and absorb light. The coated pane is then incorporated in an insulating glass unit (IGU). The original product switched between clear and a preset tint; however, the company has now developed a version that can be graded all the way from clear to dark.At the end of 2004 SAGE moved into its current manufacturing facilities, says Helen Sanders, senior vice president of operations. ÔÇ£It was the shell of a building, and we spent the whole of 2005 getting the equipment in and the processes up and running. The first shipment of product was early in 2006. The company is currently looking at sites for a much larger facility that will enable it to become a big-league player in the architectural glass industry. Wherever that turns out to be, it will have to share the advantage Minnesota has in having experienced and skilled professionals available.There are a host of potential applications, but for the time being marketing is being focused on the huge architectural glass market, says vice president of sales and marketing Lou Podbelski. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs a multibillion-dollar market. Right now we only serve a fraction of that, but I really believe that in a few years our technology will be specified routinely, for commercial and institutional buildings in particular.ÔÇØThe realization that buildings are one of the biggest consumers of energy, driven by the US Green Building CouncilÔÇÖs LEED program that is increasingly being adopted at the state and federal levels, has led architects and project engineers to give environmental performance a high priority, and this has boosted SAGEÔÇÖs product in a number of ways, says Podbelski. Chief among these is the contribution that SageGlass IGUs can make to the Department of EnergyÔÇÖs goal of using dynamic windows to help achieve zero-energy buildings by 2030.Right now SageGlass insulating glass is more expensive than regular ÔÇ£staticÔÇØ glass, but that will narrow as volumes increase, he says, and even now if you go beyond simple glass-to-glass comparison, it makes economic sense. ÔÇ£We have the ability to replace not only the glass but also the blinds and shades that many buildings have. And that goes for the external sun shades that you might have too. It will also reduce the amount of air conditioning used, not only in terms of the electricity to run it but also in the HVAC installation required in the design. When you add all those things together, our product makes financial sense a lot sooner.ÔÇØ However the most important benefit of the SageGlass product may be its ability to preserve the view and human connection to the outdoors, unlike shades and blinds.┬á┬á If these arguments donÔÇÖt persuade customers to adopt SageGlass electronically tintable glass, they are usually convinced when talk turns to maintenance, says Sanders. The lifetime cost and inconvenience of keeping mechanical blinds working, clean and looking good is considerable. Cut them out and you save all that on top of their original cost. ÔÇ£And in medical centers or hospitals, where you have to clean frequently, blinds can harbor germs,ÔÇØ she adds. ÔÇ£Glass is easy to clean.ÔÇØAlthough itÔÇÖs the glazing contractor whose name is on the order, the marketing chain goes right back to the owner. ÔÇ£In particular, in a case where the owner is also the occupier and employs the people who will be working in the building, productivity can be as important as environmental performance,ÔÇØ says Podbelski. In fact, the two are closely linked. People who use computers (and who doesnÔÇÖt these days?) need the right level of light maintained constantly. In a building that relies on someone opening or closing blinds or shades in response to weather conditions outside, that is impossible. ThatÔÇÖs what Duff Capital Advisors found when they rented the top floor of an office block in Greenwich, Connecticut, lit by skylights that for a decade had to be covered with a blue tarp in the summer to make working conditions tolerable, covering one of its finest architectural features. The company ruled out shades and louvered equipment in favor of SageGlass electronically tintable glass, powered by its own photovoltaic (PV) strip and controlled in eight zones so each part of the office would be right for its occupants.SAGEÔÇÖs technology is a symbiotic fit with PV, says Sanders, since the more sunlight there is, the greater the need for tint to be applied, and what little power the system needs to run it (low voltage DC) can be taken directly from the PV without going through an inverter.ItÔÇÖs clear that the construction glazing industry is going to be thoroughly disrupted by this smart technology with so many overwhelming advantages. A momentÔÇÖs thought throws up other large-scale applicationsÔÇöimagine the effect on the auto industry, for instance, where they are fighting to cut fuel use by even a fraction, if dynamic tinted glass could reduce the power used for airconditioning. Podbelski and Sanders are clearly excited by the potential in other applications, but for the moment at least they will have their work cut out meeting the growing demand for the acres of dynamic glass that will be needed in schools, universities, offices and hospitals (not to mention airport terminals, churches, shops, leisure facilities and private houses) to be built from now on. ÔÇô Editorial research by Alan Iodice┬á