Skylights, not skyheaters.... how to reduce heat gain/loss in a Manhattan office?

February 7, 2008 6:08 AM

Energy efficient skylight and window treatments for Manhattan office - what is this film coating? Others experiences? Suggestions? Who and where to procure it?

Howdy,

I am trying to outfit two large skylights - northern and southern facing at 30 degree angles - in such a manner as to reduce heat loss and heat gain (increase efficiency). The south skylight might also need to be outfitted with some sort of light-reducing shade, too.

I have heard about a light/UV-filtering see-through film that can be applied to glass (inside) to increase its thermal performance. That, on both windows, combined with a motorized, remote controlled shade on the south, seem to be the general solution.

My questions are thus:

1) Could someone clarify what this "film" is, how it works, and what it is called in contractor-ese?

2) What are your experiences with these films? Are they worth it? How much is sacrificed in visibility? While visibility isn't crucial, we have quite a nice view of the ESB that I would like to maintain

3) Other interesting suggestions or solutions to this problem? Anyway to "supercharge" this project by doing something really crazy...somewhere I thought I heard about a way to generate energy from a film-type application? Throw anything at me, conventional alternatives or crazy ones.

4) Recommendations for and experiences with brands, products and/or vendors in Manhattan or nearby would also be appreciated.


Much thanks,

Keasby

posted by keasby to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Best answer: 1. If you own the skylights (i.e. aren't renting the place and/or have the authority to replace the glass in the skylights), replace their glass with low-e glass. (Those two links explain the concept of low-e pretty well.) If you're unable to outright replace the glass, a Google search for "low-e window film" comes up with quite a few leads.

2. Absolutely worth it, from everything I've been reading about green homes and energy efficiency over the last year or so. (I work for a regional home and garden magazine, so it seems like every other article I read has something about this in it; we also just recently put out a green issue where these ideas were explored in depth.)

3. According to this article, thin-film solar panels were recently used on a new library in Seattle. Solar film isn't see-through, unfortunately, so it wouldn't work for your windows—but put those all over your roof and you might be pretty set, energy-wise.

In general, there's been a lot of talk about solar film, as they just developed a new kind, copper-indium-gallium-selenium (CIGS), that's more robust than former attempts at developing a marketable solar film. A subsidiary of Google has invested in at least one company that I know of that's working to produce mass quantities of solar cells made from this material, and other companies (see this article) are working to produce sheets of this film that could be used to coat buildings' roofs.

Unfortunately, I don't know that much of this has actually made it to market yet—it's all very promising, but very new. The company linked in the library article above sounds like they have produced some of this film, or maybe just solar cells made from this film, for the consumer market, but their site doesn't give much information on how to get your hands on it.

4. Unfortunately, don't know much about individual brands, but some of the informational articles linked above recommend various suppliers.
posted by limeonaire at 9:15 AM on February 7, 2008

And actually, with regard to #1, if you own the place and have the money, replace all your regular glass with low-e glass. By all accounts, that, in combination with good insulation elsewhere, would be revolutionary in terms of reducing your energy costs.
posted by limeonaire at 9:16 AM on February 7, 2008

There are a lot of products like this out there. Google "window film".
posted by jeanmari at 10:51 AM on February 7, 2008

An outfit called Verosol makes metallized fabrics for blinds and curtains that reflect some of the sunlight while letting part of it through. It's the right stuff for the shades you're thinking of.
posted by beagle at 10:52 AM on February 7, 2008