Andersen Low-E4 Glass for 400 Series Windows & Doors
Feb. 19, 2010 — The 107-year-old Andersen Corporation of Bayport, Minn., maker of the venerable Anderson Windows and related products, isn't a bad place to start when looking for glass innovation. And any co-op or condo board that's just bought new lobby furniture and now has to balance letting in beautiful sunlight with the fact that beautiful sunlight makes furniture, carpets and drapes fade will appreciate this latest innovation: the Low-E4 series of treated glass that blocks up to 95 percent of the sun's damaging ultraviolet rays. It also rejects unwanted solar heat while allowing visible light to stream through.
How cool is that? No, seriously, we're asking: How cool is that? According to the company, anywhere from one-quarter to one-half cooler than untreated windows, depending on which of the three Low-E4 models you chose.
That's because the Low-E4 models, which are made to go in Andersen's 400 Series windows and doors, have a .26 to .48 Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC). That's a measure of how well a window blocks heat from sunlight, expressed as the fraction of solar heat that enters. The lower the SHGC, the less heat comes through. (You can read more about it at the National Fenestration Rating Council's "The Facts About Solar Heat Gain & Windows." Yes, there realyy is a National Fenestration Rating Council. We fenestrate every time we put a window or a door in a building. So get out there and fenestrate today!)
Where were we? Oh, right, windows. The line consists of Low-E4 Glass, Low-E4 Sun Glass and Low-E4 SmartSun Glass, with varying degrees of the properties we've discussed. All three types are have an exterior coating that, when activated by sunlight, is designed to help reduce dirt buildup and water spots and promote faster drying. They're available as tempered glass, which is required as safety glazing in patio doors; patterned glass, in five decorative designs; laminated glass, which is two sheets of glass with an inner layer of transparent plastic to which the glass adheres if shattered, for safety's sake; and tempered laminated glass.
Lowering heat from sunlight can also help reduce energy bills by requiring less lobby air-conditioning, for example. All in all, if you're looking for a smart, efficient way to replace your co-op or condo's common-area windows, well, here's a way of looking at it that your glass is half-full.
Andersen Corporation • 100 Fourth Avenue North, Bayport, Minn. 55003-1096 • (651) 264-5150 • toll-free (800) 426-4261 • E-mail contact for here