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Explaining what is low-e
glass
Low-E Glass, what is it?
Low Emissivity or Low-E glass is standard glass with a microscopic
metallic coating attach to it that reflects heat. This coating is
invisible usually applied to only one inside surfaces with a double-pane
or thermo-pane window. Low-E glass aids in insulating your home by
keeping the heat inside during winter, and preventing the heat from
entering during the summer. Low-E windows can help reduce your energy
bills.
By permitting only a tiny part of heat to pass through the windows,
Low-E coatings help to reduce your energy bills. If a product has a high
emissivity then it would permit heat from your home to escape during the
winter and heat from the sun to enter during the summer.
The following was taken from the Efficient Windows Collaborative:
http://www.efficientwindows.org/lowe.cfm:
Low-emittance (Low-E) coatings are microscopically thin, virtually
invisible,
metal or metallic oxide layers deposited on a window or skylight glazing
surface primarily to reduce the U-factor by suppressing radiative heat
flow. The principal mechanism of heat transfer in multilayer glazing is
thermal radiation from a warm pane of glass to a cooler pane. Coating a
glass surface with a low-emittance material and facing that coating into
the gap between the glasses layers blocks a significant amount of this
radiant heat transfer, thus lowering the total heat flow through the
window. Low-E coatings are transparent to visible light. Different types
of Low-E coatings have been designed to allow for high solar gain,
moderate solar gain,
or low solar gain.
Manufacturers of Low-E glass normally fill the space between the layers
of glass with an inert gas such as Argon (Ar), Krypton (Kr), or an
Argon-Krypton mixture. Some manufactures use Carbon Dioxide (CO2), or
sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Whichever gas they use, it behaves like an
invisible blanket, insulating your windows against heat loss or gain.
Low-emittance (Low-E) coatings
are microscopically thin, virtually invisible, metal or metallic oxide
layers deposited on a window or skylight glazing surface primarily to
reduce the U-factor by suppressing radiative heat flow. The principal
mechanism of heat transfer in multilayer glazing is thermal radiation
from a warm pane of glass to a cooler pane. Coating a glass surface with
a low-emittance material and facing that coating into the gap between
the glass layers blocks a significant amount of this radiant heat
transfer, thus lowering the total heat flow through the window. Low-E
coatings are transparent to visible light. Different types of
Low-E coatings have been designed to allow for high solar gain,
moderate solar gain, or low solar gain.
Manufacturers of Low-E glass normally fill the space between the layers
of glass with an inert gas such as Argon (Ar), Krypton (Kr), or an
Argon-Krypton mixture. Some manufactures use Carbon Dioxide (CO2), or
sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Whichever gas they use, it behaves like an
invisible blanket, insulating your windows against heat loss or gain.
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