In commemoration of Earth Day, Wendy Koch of USAToday details the lessons she learned in her journey to green her home in Washington D.C. suburb of McLean, Virginia. Wonderful lessons for everyone - no matter where you live. Wendy’s #7 lesson is one to highlight: Not all green makes sense. Economic sense, that is. What pays back the most? What will save the most money? Wendy weighs energy efficiency options with alternative energy creation options. She rules out windmills altogether, and compares geothermal heat pumps, high efficiency gas furnaces, and then turns to look at…..the window. Her findings:

Perhaps surprisingly, we’ll save almost as much energy as we would have with geothermal by switching from double-pane Jeld-Wen windows to super-efficient SeriousWindows, which have an insulating film.

So our green home, modeled to earn top ratings, won’t have any chic green features such as solar panels, windmills or geothermal heat pumps.

The lesson learned is super-insulating windows pay back. In many cases, certainly Wendy’s, more than anything else you can do. The insulating film of SeriousWindows is one of several features of our high R-value framing systems that deliver higher insulation across the whole, full frame, so your heating and cooling doesn’t literally fly out the window. Unlike triple pane windows that can deliver higher R-value than your standard single pane (R-1) or dual pane (R-2) windows - but with a ton of drawbacks - we make dual chamber, triple chamber, and quad chamber windows that outperform old technology like dual and triple pane. So you save money, and we all save energy.

Another interesting lesson Wendy learned is lesson #8: Think passive.

She explains the concept of “Passiv Haus” - or Passive House (in the U.S.).

New to the USA, but common in Germany, are “passive” homes that need almost no energy, because they are so well insulated. They use mechanical ventilation to circulate air and avoid sick-building syndrome. If we were just starting, I’d want a completely passive home. We’re making ours as passive as possible.

We are huge supporters and enablers of the Passive House movement. Critical to a “passive” home is super-insulated windows (remember, anywhere between 15% - 40% of your heating and cooling costs are flying out of your windows!). What to look for in a window? Three key elements:

• High R-value (R-5 or more)
• Glass packages that maximize and minimize solar gain (depending on the orientation of your home relative to the sun and the climate zone you live in)
• Best-in-class structural ratings (air and water infiltration). The lower the better. Ours are as tight as zero (yes, really…ZERO).

SeriousWindows fiberglass series are the only windows Clark Snell (NauHaus Institute) could find in the U.S. to meet Passive House requirements.

Speaking of Passive House, Oprah highlighted an Oregon home that had ‘gone passive’ today during her Earth Day special. That would be the home of Tad Everhart, a Passive House consultant himself. Replacing his windows with fiberglass-framed high R-value SeriousWindows were one of the measures. His home now consumes 90% less energy and is far more comfortable.

Great lessons and wonderful examples to commemorate this Earth Day 2010 - in the greenest of green ways. Save energy = saving money.

Governor Schwarzenegger learns about high R-value windows

We were honored to host Governor Schwarzenegger at our Sunnyvale, California offices today, on the eve of Earth Day 2010. Critical to enabling energy efficiency for financial benefit of California’s home and building owners, manufacturing growth, and job creation opportunities in California, the Governor announced that he signed SB 77 to establish the statewide PACE program. This program lowers financing costs for businesses and residences in California to make energy improvements through retrofits, like installing super-insulating energy efficient windows, on existing properties.

The Governor learned about high R-value windows, the importance of high acoustic performance in buildings, new manufacturing innovations, and the massive energy efficiency retrofit underway of the Empire State Building. We are proud to stand behind the Governor, and keep doing our part manufacturing advanced products that save money and energy.

See video coverage of the press event here and more photos on Flickr.

Full press release:

Governor Schwarzenegger Tours Serious Materials and Announces Signing of Legislation to Promote Energy Efficiency Retrofitting

Sunnyvale, CA — April 21, 2010 — Serious Materials, the leading energy-saving building materials company in the U.S., today welcomed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California along with Senator Fran Pavley (D-Santa Monica) to its headquarter office and R&D facility in Sunnyvale, California. Governor Schwarzenegger announced he signed SB 77 by Senator Pavley to establish the California statewide Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Reserve Program that will lower financing costs for businesses and residences in California to make energy improvements through retrofits, like installing super-insulating energy efficient windows, on existing properties.

“Serious Materials is another company joining a long list of companies in California that are proving what I have always said: what is good for the environment is also good for the economy,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “We want to keep these companies and these jobs here in California. That is why I signed SB 77 to help build our green economy, create thousands of jobs and create a cleaner environment by making energy efficient investments easier to make.”

“Governor Schwarzenegger is a great friend of the environment,” said Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials. “He also knows energy efficiency is a triple-win for everyone, which is why he signed SB 77. Retrofitting our homes and buildings with super-insulating high R-value windows saves money for homeowners and businesses, creates jobs, and recharges the Californian and American economy. ”

Governor Schwarzenegger feels the difference of super-insulating glass

To see photos from the event, visit Serious Materials’ Flickr page and see video coverage here and on the Serious Materials blog.

SB 77 creates another financing option for commercial and residential property owners to make energy improvements, such as replacing single and dual pane windows with high R-value windows, using bonds and/or loans that can be repaid through assessments added to their property tax bill. The legislation establishes a state-financed reserve, through the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, of up to $30 million from the Renewable Resources Trust Fund to implement the PACE Reserve Program.

Serious Materials manufactures super-insulating high R-value windows for residential and commercial markets that can save up to 40% of heating and cooling costs. As a leading example of the financial benefits of energy efficiency retrofits, the Empire State Building is undergoing a major retrofit that is expected to reduce energy use by 38 percent, save $4.4 million per year in energy costs, and save 105,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the next 15 years. Selected by Johnson Controls, Serious Materials is upgrading all 6,514 dual pane windows of the Empire State Building that will directly reduce energy costs by more than $400,000 per year. In a first-of-its-kind process, Serious Materials is reusing all existing glass and create super-insulating glass units (IGUs) in a dedicated processing space located in the Empire State Building. The new IGUs then will be re-installed and will increase the thermal performance of the windows by up to four times their current thermal performance, improving the R-value of the older dual pane IGUs from R2 to R-values ranging from R-5 to R-8. The super-insulating new windows will also reduce solar heat gain by more than 50% compared to the older windows.

About Serious Materials
Serious Materials develops and manufactures sustainable green building materials that save energy, save money, improve comfort, and help address climate change. Serious Materials’ products are manufactured in the company’s 5 factories across North America. For more information, visit http://www.SeriousMaterials.com.

Press Contact:
Valerie Jenkins
Serious Materials
vjenkins@seriousmaterials.com

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On the eve of Earth Day 2010, we are thrilled to be hosting Governor Schwarzenegger tomorrow, April 21, at our headquarter offices and R&D manufacturing facility in Sunnyvale, California. The Governor will tour our facility and announce new legislation that will lower financing costs for businesses and residences in California to make energy improvements through retrofits, like installing super-insulating energy efficient windows on existing properties.

Governor Schwarzenegger will be joined by Senator Fran Pavley - and a motivated crowd of Serious Materials employees, customers, and partners.

The event will be live webcast here at 10.30AM (PST) and of course we will share our own coverage here on our blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr.