Low-e Glass and Energy Efficient

Low-E glass was specifically designed to reduce the amount of infrared and ultraviolet light that penetrates through your windows, while still allowing ample visible light to enter your home. This type of glass features a transparent, microscopically thin coating that reflects heat, which is actually thinner than a strand of human hair! By reflecting the interior temperatures back into your living space, Low-E coatings help maintain a consistent temperature in your home.

What Is Low-E Glass?

Low-E windows, short for low emissivity windows, are equipped with a special type of glass that has been coated with multiple layers of invisible metallic oxides. This advanced coating allows natural light to pass through the glass, while deflecting harmful UV rays and infrared light back out into the environment. This is incredibly important for a few reasons.

UV rays, which are invisible to the naked eye, can cause significant damage over time. Prolonged exposure to UV rays can cause upholstery to fade, skin to burn, and even damage building materials. Infrared light, on the other hand, is responsible for warming your home during the colder months. By reflecting both types of light back out into the environment, low-E coatings help regulate the temperature in your home, keeping it comfortable year-round.

Low-E glass, like any invention, has its own set of advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages of Low-E Glass

The most significant advantage of low-E glass is its ability to reduce energy loss. When installed correctly, it can minimize heat loss in buildings by up to 50%. In addition, low-E glass offers:

• Durability: The metallic coatings are incorporated within the glass, providing increased durability.
• Invisibility: The additional layerings are not visible to the naked eye, offering an unobstructed view.
• Protection: The glass blocks UV rays, providing protection to both people and objects within the building.

These benefits can lead to cost savings for building owners who invest in low-E glass windows and doors over time.

Disadvantages of Low-E Glass

The primary disadvantage of low-E glass is its higher upfront cost. Because the manufacturing process requires more materials and steps, low-E glass is more expensive to produce.

However, it can still be seen as a long-term investment, as it significantly improves a building’s energy efficiency and lowers electricity bills.

Another potential disadvantage of low-E glass is that it blocks a certain amount of natural light compared to standard glass or fully open windows. However, commercial building owners may view this as an advantage in some settings, as it provides UV protection.

How to Choose the Best Low-E Coating Glass for Your Climate?

Not sure which type of Low-E glass is best for your needs? Take a moment to consider the climate in your area before making a decision:

If you reside in a region with extremely cold weather, hard-coat Low-E glass may be the better option for you. This type of glass allows some of the sun’s short-wave infrared energy to penetrate, effectively heating your home in the winter while also reflecting the interior long-wave heat energy back inside.

On the other hand, if you live in a climate that ranges from cold to hot, such as the majority of the United States, soft-coat Low-E glass is likely the better choice. It provides superior UV protection and boasts an overall better U-value. Additionally, soft-coat Low-E glass reflects warm and cool air back into your room, rather than allowing it to escape outside.

Ways to Identify If Your Windows are Low-E Glass

Due to the popularity of low-E windows, many homeowners who are looking to sell their property will advertise the presence of these windows as a selling point. However, those who purchase a home without knowing whether it has low-E windows or not can perform a simple experiment to find out.

One way to test for low-E windows is to hold a flame up to the glass and observe the reflection. In a double-pane window, there should be four reflections visible, while in a regular glass window, all four reflections will have the same color. In a low-E window, one of the reflections will have a different color than the others. This is a clear indication that the window has a low-E coating.

Low-E Glass Window

Low-E window, also known as low-emissivity glass, was designed to reduce the amount of infrared and ultraviolet light that enters your home through the windows, while still allowing natural light to pass through. These windows are coated with an ultra-thin and transparent layer that reflects heat, which is thinner than even a human hair. The Low-E coatings help to maintain a consistent temperature inside your home by reflecting the interior temperatures back inside.

To measure the effectiveness of glass with Low-E coatings, there are several factors that are considered, as explained by the Vitro (formerly PPG) Glass Education Center. These include the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC), which represents the fraction of solar radiation that is admitted through the window, the U-Value which indicates how much heat loss the window allows, the Visible Light Transmittance (VLT) which measures the amount of visible light that passes through the glass, and the Light to Solar Gain ratio which is the ratio between the window’s visible light transmittance and its Solar Gain Coefficient rating.

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