Greenbuild 2014, part 1 – Big Developments in the Big Easy

Saint-Gobain, the world’s largest building products company, was the show’s Platinum Sponsor and its exhibit floor area – which featured SageGlass®, CertainTeed, and Adfors – was dubbed “The Other French Quarter” by show attendees.  

Continuous Innovation

The SageGlass corner of “The Other French Quarter” was packed with market-leading glazing innovation that attracted a steady stream of attendees. Much of that interest focused on two of our most recent SageGlass advances on display:

• SageGlass LightZone™, which lets multiple zones within a single SageGlass pane be independently tinted to precisely manage daylight, glare and solar heat gain




• SageGlass Unplugged™, a wireless, solar-powered tinting technology for dynamic glass

Another SageGlass highlight, announced at Greenbuild, was an option for large glass with no center bus bar. For glass sizes over four feet, SageGlass has traditionally utilized  a center bus bar – a thin electrical conduit through the middle of the pane – to provide superior switching speed and tinting uniformity in all conditions. The option to specify SageGlass without the center bus bar lets architects and designers combine dynamic solar control with a design that meets their particular aesthetic needs.

Education 

But Greenbuild isn’t just about innovative products. SageGlass was also a featured presenter at the Saint-Gobain Learning Lab, which was adjacent to the Saint-Gobain “French Quarter” booth. With the ongoing advances in dynamic glass capability and sustainability-driven changes in building codes, the need for continuing education is more pressing – and popular – than ever. SageGlass Vice President of Sales & Business Development, Andrew Hulse, presented a daylighting course to a standing-room-only crowd at the Saint-Gobain learning lab. The main takeaway of his presentation was that new technologies such as SageGlass dynamic glass enable a building to maximize natural daylight – which increases occupant comfort and productivity – while also reducing energy and preserving a view of the outside environment.  Trifecta!

And, speaking of education, there was much to learn outside the confines of the Morial Convention Center where the Greenbuild show was held this year. Specifically, there was the rebuilding of the City of New Orleans which was still visibly ongoing following the 2005 Hurricane Katrina and a special renovation project related to that catastrophe involving SageGlass and Greenbuild. More on both these topics in a second part to this posting.