Next Step in VIG: Planning for Growth | Glass Magazine

Oct 27, 2024

Vacuum insulating glazing, or VIG, is a next-generation glass product. Like an insulating glass unit, the system is comprised of two monolithic lites of flat glass; in VIG, they are separated by pillars or standoffs, and edge-sealed, with the air vacuumed out through a pump-out port.

But the technology is not new, emphasizes Dave Cooper, president and chief technical officer, VacuumGlass LLC, whose company sells both VIG products and the fabrication equipment to make them.

“[VIG has] been around for quite a while. But like many things, our side of the Atlantic or Pacific is slow to adapt and change,” says Cooper. His company did a survey of global VIG manufacturers; currently almost 80% of production is in China, though capacity does exist elsewhere in Asia and Europe, he says.

Imports of VIG to North America have increased in the past few years. Cooper’s company has set up exclusivities with six different manufacturers from China. Vitro Architectural Glass, through its partnership with LandGlass, also supplies VIG to the North American market.

“VIG 3.5” features better performance, tempering and longevity. There have been several recent advances in the technology, says Cooper. Compared to where the technology was when it was invented decades ago, he says today’s VIG is “version 3.5.”

VacuumGlass is supplying VIG systems to a retrofit of Grant-Deneau tower, a 22-story building located in Dayton, Ohio. Cooper says the project represents the largest use of VIG in North America.

The historic tower was built in 1968 using PPG monolithic solar gray glass. Previous owner Premier Health left the building due to the high costs of running it, says Cooper. The new owner Windsor Companies, in renovating the tower to become a mixed-use building, decided to implement VIG. The decision allowed the construction team to match the existing architectural aesthetic says Cooper, and to take advantage of the 17D tax credit, a recent incentive that rewards building renovations that improve energy efficiency.

The building owner had a building analysis completed and was able to move away from conventional HVAC system replacement, due to the use of VIG, says Cooper. The use of VIG high-efficiency glazing to replace the R1 monolithic glass enabled the building to go to an electrified efficient heat pump system.

The Grant-Deneau tower, and its potential to make VIG more interesting to building owners, represents an inflection point for the material, says Cooper. “If this is the stage where we're starting to see VIG incorporated into larger and larger buildings, both new construction and retrofit, that means that we won't be able to import this [product] forever,” Cooper says.

According to a study completed by Cooper’s business, Fenestration Consulting Services, of the market segments that could adopt VIG—which includes refrigeration, commercial architectural and residential architectural—19% of those segments are currently ready to adopt the new technology. And to actually supply VIG to that portion of the market would require 250 VIG lines, he says; currently North America has none.

“We're like we were in the early days of insulating glass where people were bringing in equipment from Europe,” says Cooper. “We just need the equipment here to start producing the product.”

Fabricators interested in purchasing equipment continue to have questions about product demand and how the market is developing, as well as the capital investment required; VIG production equipment is still more expensive than other IG production equipment. As with other systems, as market adoption increases, costs will drop, says Cooper.

As for the market factors driving VIG adoption, they include codes, northern latitude standard requirements and energy zone requirements, though the “big driver” right now is costs, says Cooper. Codes are driving some adoption he says, but even if they started requiring more implementation, the market could not currently supply it. With regional codes in California, Massachusetts, New York and Colorado pushing higher energy performance, VIG may still find further adoption. “VIG will take you to that [standard], to that level and beyond. So, you've got a future-proof product.”