V-Glass Awarded $1M Grant by US Department of Energy

PEWAUKEE, WI, September 24, 2018 – A proposal entitled Vacuum Glass for R-10 Windows, submitted by Wisconsin startup company V-Glass LLC, has been awarded a Phase II Award by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The award is for $1,007,564 over two years of effort. This increases V-Glass’ total grant funding by nearly 60%, to more than $2.7 million from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the State of Wisconsin.

V-Glass has developed and patented technologies for producing an affordable vacuum insulated glass. The primary application for the technology is in the $40 billion global insulated glass window industry.

V-Glass technology enables windows that insulate three times better than today's popular double pane windows. Ongoing life testing by the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory indicates a 97% probability that the V-Glass edge seal will last at least 50 years, more than twice the warranted life of current insulating glass.

The potential impact of V-Glass vacuum insulating glass on energy use is significant. At full market penetration, it could reduce total worldwide energy use by 2%. In the U.S. alone, the annual avoided energy use would be more than twice the total U.S. solar energy production in 2017.

The current grant is intended to address remaining barriers to commercialization. One primary objective is to build a working window with R-10 performance, including frame losses. Another is to demonstrate that V-Glass vacuum glass can be cost-competitive with current double pane insulated glass without government subsidy.

V-Glass has recently begun seeking private investment to accelerate commercialization. One major insulating glass company is currently testing V-Glass samples, and others have expressed interest.