Inventing The
Eastman Chemical
Heat Mirror® Insulating Glass
Letting in the Light, Keeping out the Heat
Heat Mirror Insulating Glass suspends one or more lightweight films inside the airspace of a dual-pane glass unit, resulting in glass performance comparable to that of an insulated wall. When combined with coated glass and gas fill technologies, Heat Mirror glass improves the insulating performance of dual-pane glass by up to 500 percent, enabling significant energy cost savings. These savings reduce the energy consumption and associated carbon emissions required to heat and cool buildings.
The Technology
Heat Mirror technology was first invented by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of a research program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to improve energy efficiency in buildings and homes in 1980. Since then, manufacturing automation processes that are critical for the cost-effective, high-volume production of Heat Mirror Insulating Glass have been developed.
Heat Mirror technology suspends one or more lightweight polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films inside the airspace of a dual-pane insulating glass unit to create multiple superinsulating cavities. The films use nanoscale coatings of metal to reflect heat back to its source. Because Heat Mirror film is thin and lightweight compared to glass, more than one film can be suspended in the airspace of a standard dual-pane glass unit to create multiple insulating cavities without adding weight, which significantly increases energy efficiency and improves environmental performance.
The Benefits
- Increased energy efficiency: By creating multiple independent and superinsulating cavities, Heat Mirror technology improves the insulating performance of dual-pane glass by up to 500 percent, dramatically improving the energy efficiency of commercial and residential buildings.
- Improved environmental performance: Because the energy required to produce Heat Mirror film is 16 times less than that of glass, a Heat Mirror Insulating Glass unit has a 30 percent lower cradle-to-gate environmental footprint than a comparably sized triple-pane glass unit.
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