Glaverbel's Innovation Rewarded

The awards ceremony, held at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris on 7 November 2005, was attended by the judges, French construction professionals and the city's deputy mayor.EnergyNT, the first toughenable dual function glassEnergyNT coated glass(2) combines enhanced thermal insulation and solar protection.The vacuum-applied coating can be toughened by processors(3), making this innovative product the first 'ready-to-toughen' coated glass combining these two functions to hit the marketplace. The key benefit for processors is that they can use their own toughening furnaces, thus slashing turnaround times.

A host of other benefits
Since EnergyNT has the same neutral appearance as non-toughenable EnergyN, both glasses can be used in the same façade if required. In terms of performance, EnergyNT offers excellent thermal insulation of up to 1.1 W/(m2.K) and enhanced solar protection of up to 45% depending on the assembly (i.e. 55% of the heat produced by the sun's rays are bounced back to the outside world). A wide variety of processing methods can be also be used on EnergyNT, including bending and silk-screen printing.

"This award confirms the value of the innovation policy we have been pursuing for many years - especially in coated products," said Glaverbel CEO Arthur Ulens. Since its launch just a few months ago, EnergyNT has already been used in several major projects, including Riverside II in Dublin, Warsaw airport and Ikea in Gdansk, Poland.



(1) In the 'Joinery-Shutters-Solar Protection' category.
(2) The glass is coated with metal oxides to enhance thermal insulation and solar control.
(3) The toughening process involves heating the glass to 600 °C and then cooling it quickly to make it more resistant to physical and thermal stresses.