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Getting more privacy from glass

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Getting more privacy from glass

Getting more privacy from glass

There’s always that one space in your home that would benefit from a little privacy. It’s the room with the misplaced window, or the unattractive view of the street or the building next door. You like the natural light it provides – just not the view. There are ways to keep the light from this window without having to put up with its issues.

Close the window, keep the glass

Curtains, blinds and shades can take you only so far. Yes, they can disguise the view, but in doing so, they also take away the light. Unless you’re ok with that, you need a better solution for those times when you need or want daylight.

Frosted glass allows most visible light to pass, but eliminates the view either into or out of the room. Frosted glass is a great option for the bathroom or bedroom. It can also work for windows that have an unattractive view of the building next door. Here’s the rub. Frosted glass is expensive. Traditional frosted glass uses a chemical or mechanical process to abrade the surface of the glass. It’s a permanent solution, so once it’s installed, it’s yours.

You can create your own frosted glass using Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint makes a permanent bond with the glass surface, so just like frosted glass, it’s forever. You can apply Glassprimer™ glass paint directly to the glass, using a brush, roller or a high-volume, low pressure paint sprayer. Minimal surface preparation is required, and you can order Glassprimer™ glass paint in any color with a frosted effect.

The benefit of using Glassprimer™ glass paint is that unlike true frosted glass, you can get it in virtually any color. Frosted glass is – of course – “glass colored.” It’s made by modifying the surface of the glass, rather than applied as a coating. If you use Glassprimer™ glass paint, you can incorporate color into your decorating scheme. You can create a translucent effect on glass in a color scheme that matches your room décor for about $1 per square foot of coverage. White always works for the frosted effect, but if you’re going for something more, Glassprimer™ glass paint is your go-to option.

You can also use Glassprimer™ glass paint to dress up interior glass walls and partitions. Use it in conference rooms or offices to minimize distractions, control light and heat gain, and to perk up an otherwise plain space. The glass partition can still transmit visible light into the space, and you can control how much of the glass partition is coated.

If you’d like more glass inspiration, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jisc infonet, via Flickr.com

Construction spurs glass recycling discussion

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New construction makes extensive use of glass. For a variety of reasons, glass has become an attractive material for builders to use. But what happens to architectural glass when it is no longer used? In most cases, the glass ends up in the landfill. In an effort to change that, a few movements are underway to discuss commercial glass recycling.

Glass is infinitely recyclable. It can be remade into glass an unlimited number of times, often at lower cost. The glass recycling process takes less energy that the glass making process does, so the idea of commercial glass recycling is attractive.

Commercial glass recycling has significant benefits

The vast majority of commercial glass is currently installed. While window frames deteriorate, the glass inside of them doesn’t. Although this glass could be recycled, most building construction and destruction companies don’t know what to do with window glass. The glass that doesn’t end up in the landfill usually gets repurposed in paving aggregate, used in road construction and repair. While this re-use is better than consignment to the landfill, over the long run, it increases the cost of commercial glass because virtually all commercial glass is made from new materials.
Why isn’t commercial glass recycled more frequently? First, removing glass from a building that’s being torn down or remodeled is labor-intensive. Second, unlike scrap metal and other architectural materials that can be recovered at a profit, no one’s paying for used glass. Coupled together, removing commercial glass becomes a labor-intensive activity that while good for the environment, has no immediate payback for the company performing the work.

Some newer commercial glasses – especially low-emissivity glasses, laminated glasses and wired glasses – can’t simply be recycled as is. These glasses have been specially treated or formulated in ways that regular container glass and standard float glass haven’t been, and they can’t simply be combined together in the remanufacturing process.

One of the biggest obstacles to recycling glass from building sites is the fact that most contractors don’t know what to do with the glass, how to identify and sort it, and how to ensure that the glass gets into the hands of reprocessors.

A British firm is now doing research on the best ways to process and remanufacture commercial glass. The research is funded by a European project aimed at returning construction debris to raw materials economically. The ultimate goal of the project is to reduce carbon emissions, energy consumption and landfill usage.

If you’re looking for some glass inspiration, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Alexandre Dulaunoy, via Flickr.com

New glass coating could reduce energy use

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New glass coating could reduce energy use

New glass coating could reduce energy use

Scientists at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore have developed a glass coating that permits visible light but blocks 90% of near infrared lightwaves. If applied to architectural glass, the coating could reduce energy consumption by nearly eliminating solar heat gain. The glass coating could prove to be especially useful in countries near the equator, where air conditioning accounts for most of a building’s energy use.

Glass coating can be applied to existing windows

The coating consists of 10-nanometer antimony-doped tin oxide particles. In the lab, the researchers could control the near-infrared light absorption by varying the concentration of the antimony-doped particles. Antimony-doped nanoparticles are already in use, but the commercially available mixtures feature particles that are much larger. By reducing the size of the antimony nanoparticles, scientists were able to achieve near complete infrared rejection.

According to the agency, a local glass company is already interested in licensing the coating. According to the developers, it is also possible to apply the coatings to windows that are already installed.

Reducing solar heat gain is essential to reducing energy costs in buildings. Low-emissivity glass has been proven to perform, but it is expensive and supply issues have arisen globally. Glassprimer™ glass paint offers the ability to block invisible light waves, while permitting visible light. Glassprimer™ glass paint is an industry leader in coatings and can provide about 250 square feet of coverage for about $1 per square foot.

Glassprimer™ glass paint performs well, even in direct sunlight and high humidty. The paint is specially engineered to bond permanently with the glass surface. Once cured, the paint will not peel, chip or fade. When applied according to manufacturer instructions, the paint is waranted for 10 years. It can also be tinted to match the paint palette of virtually all major paint manufacturers. That means you can incorporate Glassprimer™ glass paint seamlessly into your decorating plan.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jes, via Flickr.com

Iconic Glass Structures – Bahrain World Trade Centre

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Iconic Glass Structures – Bahrain World Trade Centre

Iconic Glass Structures – Bahrain World Trade Centre

The Bahrain World Trade Centre is a 50-story, glass-sheathed, twin tower building located in Manama, Bahrain. The sail-shaped towers incorporate wind turbines into three skywalks that connect the towers. The turbines catch incoming winds from the Persian Gulf, and can each generate 225 kW of power. The turbines, which measure nearly 100 feet in diameter, were estimated produce about 10%-15% of the electricity consumed by the tower occupants at the time of the building’s construction.

The London-based architectural firm Atkins designed the Bahrain World Trade Centre, and construction was completed in 2008. The design has won numerous awards for sustainability. The Bahrain World Trade Centre was the first tall building in the world to incorporate wind turbines into its design. Atkins used extensive wind-flow data from the site to determine the buildings’ final shape. The shape of the building maximizes wind flow between the towers, which optimizes the power output of the turbines.

The slope of the towers distributes airflow evenly to the turbines, which allows them to rotate at the same speed and generate similar power. Although the design projections estimated that the turbines would generate a maximum of 15% of the building’s electrical demand, actual operation shows that the turbines generate significantly more than the design projection. The positioning of the building has raised debate among architects, some of whom believe that if the buildings had been built in the exact opposite configuration, the turbines could have generated an additional 15% more power. Repositioning the turbines could have allowed them to generate 30% more power, making the building nearly completely self-sustaining.

The World Trade Centre is integrated into an existing hotel complex. Retail space and restaurants are also in operation on the towers lowest floors. The building features 45 occupied aboveground floors and one below-grade floor. Additional stories at the top of the tower are not occupied.

The building superstructure, which is made of steel and concrete, makes liberal use of glass in all occupied spaces, as well as public spaces and in the skywalks between towers. The low-emissivity glass reduces solar heat gain in the interior spaces. A buffer separates the interior space from the building’s exterior, also to reduce heat buildup. Chilled water cools the building’s interior, and reflecting pools provide evaporative cooling at ground level. The building’s low-leakage windows are operable.

If you’re looking for some additional glass inspiration, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Photos By Clark , via Flickr.com

Study shows glass would benefit workers

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Study shows glass would benefit workers

Study shows glass would benefit workers

A recent study by Sage Glass shows that most workers do not have adequate access to daylight in their workspaces. Additionally, workers in the survey characterized their workplaces as noisy and uncomfortable temperature-wise. The survey involved more than 400 office workers. Many of the issues the survey participants identified could be improved by changing the window glass in their office spaces.

Glass improvements could make employees happier

More than one-third of workers in the survey said that they had no access to windows near their workspace, and only two-thirds of those with access to windows had any ability to control incoming light with blinds or curtains. Even with limited control over daylight, 5 out of 6 workers said they would prefer to work near a window.

Two-thirds of workers with access to windows said that sunlight improves their mood while at work. Workers also reported that they believe that access to sunlight while at work improved their energy level, reduced their stress and made them more productive.

About half of the workers who had access to windows in their workspace reported that they had difficulty with glare, and reported headaches, eye pain, difficulty with concentration and lowered productivity as the result of glare. Survey respondents also reported that their office environment was often too hot or too cold, too dry, and too noisy.

The survey underscores the importance of glass in the workspace. Increased use of glass in office interiors can provide better access to daylight throughout the workday. In addition, better attention to controlling incoming daylight can help reduce glare, prevent excessive heat gain, reduce heat loss and provide passive humidity control in the workspace.

Glassprimer™ glass paint can provide light control by allowing daylight to pass through, while preventing ultraviolet and infrared light frequencies from increasing interior temperatures. Glassprimer™ glass paint is highly cost effective, providing coverage for about $1 per square foot.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Steven Mileham , via Flickr.com

Des Moines Apartment May Get Glass Pool

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Des Moines Apartment May Get Glass Pool

Des Moines Apartment May Get Glass Pool

A 26-story apartment building proposed for construction in downtown Des Moines may include a cantilevered glass pool. The design calls for the 11,000-gallon glass pool to be suspended over the building’s west side. If built, the pool would have glass walls and a glass bottom panel, and would extend 11 feet beyond the edge of the building.

Blackbird Investments is building the $85 million development, and believes that the uniqueness of the glass pool will bring additional interest to the building. As designed, the structure can hold a pool about twice as large. According to the developers, the pool will add about $250,000 to the price of the building, and will be reserved for tenant use only. The glass walls of the pool will be about 6 inches thick, and consist of about 10 layers of laminated glass.

Cantilevered pools are relatively uncommon, and are found mostly at hotels in larger cities, and on cruise ships. The pool, if built, will be the only cantilevered pool in Des Moines.

Concrete provides the structure for cantilevered pools, and must take into account expansion and contraction that occurs naturally as the result of changes in temperature year-round. In the summer, the concrete deck can reach temperatures as high as 140° F. In the winter, temperatures can dip below 0° F. That variation in temperature can cause concrete to expand or contract by as much as in inch. Aside from temperature, the pool deck must also be able to accommodate movement in the building.

Swimmers will be able to see out the bottom of the pool, thanks to glass bottom panels. They’ll have a view of 801 Grand, the tallest building in Iowa, and Pappajohn Sculpture Park, a popular art installation in Des Moines.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specially engineered coating that bonds permanently to glass and other impervious surfaces. If you would like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please see the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: designmilk, via Flickr.com

New Glass Bridge Closes Due To Popular Demand

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New Glass Bridge Closes Due To Popular Demand

New Glass Bridge Closes Due To Popular Demand

If you’re planning to visit China’s newly opened Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and the Grand Canyon that surrounds it, here’s a quick travel tip: “Don’t.”

The company that operates the bridge shut the attraction down earlier today because it is “too popular.” The Zhangjiajie Bridge, which just opened on August 20, has proven to be too hard for visitors to resist. The bridge is designed to accommodate about 8,000 guests per day, but record crowds, estimated at 10 times the bridge’s daily maximum, have traveled to the Zhangjiajie National Park to see, and presumably cross, the bridge.

No word on when glass bridge will reopen

Company officials closed the bridge effective immediately, but rest assured that the closure isn’t permanent. Officials want to strategize and more properly prepare for the enormous number of visitors. Aside from the obvious long lines and the disappointment, visitors have been greeted with mounds of trash, no place to park and few amenities, including bottled water. Interest in the bridge has also spawned renewed interest in the rest of the park.

Officials made clear that there is nothing wrong with the bridge, and the attraction was closed to better allow them to manage the large number of visitors. They stress that there are no structural safety concerns with the bridge, but rather, they want to take a second shot at the logistics of moving such a large number of visitors through the park.

The bridge is the longest, highest glass bridge in the world, stretching about 1,400 feet across and rising about 1,000 feet in the air. Visitors might recognize the spectacular Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon and National Park because it served as the inspiration for some of the visuals in the movie “Avatar.”

Park officials had initially suggested that the glass bridge be closed on September 5, but the company that manages the attraction opted for an immediate shutdown to begin making improvements. Planned improvements include parking lot expansion, changes to the ticket-booking system and improvements to the company’s customer service approach.

The company has not yet said when it plans to reopen the glass bridge, but is working diligently to make the experience more enjoyable for everyone.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specially engineered coating that bonds permanently to glass and other impervious surfaces. If you would like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please see the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Safelite Auto Glass Drops Manufacturing

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Safelite Auto Glass Drops Manufacturing

Safelite Auto Glass Drops Manufacturing

Safelight Auto Glass announced last month that it will cease manufacturing operations by October 10, 2016. The company, based in Columbus, OH, is the nation’s largest auto glass installation company. The company’s manufacturing facility is located in Enfield, NC. As part of the closure, Safelite says that the first layoffs will begin in September.

Auto glass market on the verge of sea change

The decision to drop manufacturing doesn’t mean that Safelite is exiting the auto glass industry, but rather that the company will get its manufactured products from other suppliers. The company’s Enfield facility employs about 200 people and turns out about a million replacement windshields each year. Safelite will focus entirely on its windshield replacement service instead.

According to company officials, the decision to shutter the plant was based on the cost of the investments needed to maintain its position in the replacement windshield industry. Officials at Safelite said that the number of modifications required to meet both consumer demand and new automotive technologies, like Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, led to the plant’s demise.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems come in a variety of forms, and may include imaging and image processing, computer vision, head-up displays, computer displays, LIDAR, radar and other display technologies. Each vehicle or manufacturer may have its own technologies, which may or may not integrate closely with the vehicle’s windshield. Additionally, auto manufacturers are introducing ADAS technologies at a rapid pace. Driver assistive technologies are currently among the fastest growing segments in automotive electronics.

According to the company, the days of plain glass windshields are numbered. The company’s manufacturing facility could not make the investments necessary to create the large variety of enhanced replacement automotive windshields. The Enfield facility was opened in 1970, but Safelite has made auto glass since 1947.

Other suppliers are expected to fill in the gaps left by Safelite, but it is unlikely that a single glass manufacturer will capture the majority of the ADAS windshield market. Safelite currently manufactures more than 1,000 distinct auto glass products at the plant.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specially engineered coating that bonds permanently to glass and other impervious surfaces. If you would like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please see the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jared Kelly, via Flickr.com

Glass coating technique reduces heat gain

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Glass coating technique reduces heat gain

Glass coating technique reduces heat gain

Researchers at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi have developed an inexpensive glass coating technique that reduces solar heat gain nearly as much as more expensive techniques currently used on low-emissivity glass.

Air conditioning accounts for about 75% of Abu Dhabi’s peak daily electricity usage, so reducing demand for air conditioning is critical, especially in modern all-glass buildings. Low-emissivity glass is a standard material, but it is expensive.

Typically, low-emissivity glass is coated multiple times using thin silver films and other materials. The layers are applied using a vapor deposition technique, which is relatively slow and expensive. In addition, depending upon the materials in the deposition layers, low emissivity coatings can reduce the transmissibility of visible light, and can change the appearance of the glass by giving it a red or brown cast.

The Masdar Institute glass coating technique is significant because it reduces the cost of manufacturing low-e glass. The technique still uses vapor deposition to apply the coating, but the coating itself has been changed. The team used an inexpensive metal-oxide layer that is nearly as effective in blocking light waves from the non-visible spectrum. Unlike traditional silver-based coatings, the metal-oxide coating is applied only once. This shortens the production time without significantly sacrificing performance.

Reducing the number of times a coating must be applied, and using less expensive materials that are nearly as effective, reduces the cost of production and acquisition. It also preserves the clear/neutral appearance of glass, which makes it a desirable option for new construction.

The coating material is still be refined and tested. To date, the team has worked with small-scale glass coatings, but the next step is to verify that the coatings perform similarly on larger pieces of glass. The glass coating will then undergo more rigorous performance tests to ensure that it is durable enough to perform in harsh climates.

If you’re looking for some inspiration for your next glass project, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk, via Flickr.com

Photovoltaic glass can generate real power

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Photovoltaic glass can generate real power

Photovoltaic glass can generate real power

Solar energy is moving to the forefront of the clean energy movement and photovoltaic glass may help bring the technology to more densely populated (and less sunny) areas. Until recently, the state of the solar energy industry was limited by the available collection technology. Solar energy was (and still is) most likely to be successful in areas that receive a lot of direct sunlight throughout the day.

Photovoltaic glass advances could change collectors

That tends to leave out regions like the Northeast, the Great Lakes and the Northwest, which are often under cloud cover. In these parts, solar energy is a passive, supplemental power source, and offers limited benefits.

One way to increase the amount of solar energy collected is to increase the size of the solar collector. In sparsely populated areas, large arrays can be constructed on the ground. This approach is not practical in urban areas, where the population is more densely concentrated.

Advances in the development of photovoltaic glass, however, are changing the established rules that governed where solar collectors are practical. In traditional solar collectors, the photovoltaic glass is dark, primarily to maximize the amount of non-visible light that gets collected. (It’s the non-visible light frequencies that are mostly responsible for heat generation.)

Unfortunately, to make the glass dark enough to harvest this type of solar radiation meant that the glass was too dark to transmit the visible light. This meant that the glass could not be used in windows and in other applications, where transparency is desirable.

New developments in photovoltaic glass include the development of glass that can absorb the invisible light spectrum and direct it toward the edges of the pane, where it can be converted to electricity. This material permits the transmission of visible light, so it can transform any window or glass surface into a solar energy collector. The material is currently about 20% transparent, which is still relatively dark. Further advances, however, could increase the transparency of this glass, and make photovoltaic glass practical for other applications.

In the meantime, another approach to reducing energy costs through glass is to block UV radiation from entering buildings. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially formulated to bond permanently with glass. The paint is available in any color, and resists peeling, chipping and fading, even in direct sunlight. Reducing solar gain through selective obstruction can reduce energy costs year-round.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Pieter Edelman, via Flickr.com