Glare Reducer
JFK International Airport in New York handles nearly 32 million passengers a year. To reduce glare in International Air Terminal #4, 38 panels of Thermal View Plus Glare Reducer window treatments with UV inhibitors were installed in the east and west window systems. The 7,112-sf installation has an expected life span of about 20 years. The facility manager at JFK estimates that, after installation, glare in the terminal was reduced by over 90%.
Total Shade Inc.
Reader Service No. 219
MSU's Resilient Roofing
More than 30 years after installing the first protected membrane roof system with Styrofoam on campus, Michigan State University has over 161 buildings that feature the PMR with Styrofoam system. In the durable system, Styrofoam extruded polystyrene insulation is layered on top of the waterproof membrane. This protects the membrane from the warm summers and freezing winters of Michigan, as well as foot traffic from rooftop plazas. PMR systems with Styrofoam also reduce energy costs and help attain LEED points.
Dow.
Reader Service No. 217
Windows Aid CMU Students in Solar Decathlon
The challenge: To design a house that generates enough on-site solar energy to operate a household and home-based business and provide for transportation. The solution: energy-efficient products, such as NX-200 NexGen Casement Windows. Traco donated 40 such windows to a team of Carnegie Mellon University students facing the challenge in the Solar Decathlon competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The windows use an Insulated Glass Unit with a butyl-based nonmetal spacer and glass-reinforced polyamide thermal break strip.
Traco.
Reader Service No. 214
Spectrally Selective Window Film
When students began complaining of uncomfortable overheating in the University of Colorado's campus buildings, the Campus Resource Energy Conservation Office took action. Along with energy-system efficiency upgrades, the university installed V-Kool 40, a spectrally selective window film that blocks 65% of solar heat while transmitting 42.8% of natural light into classrooms. The university has used over 8,800 sf of the film on campus buildings.
V-Kool Inc.
Reader Service No. 221
Lions and Tigers and Skylights, Oh My!
Country exhibit at the Milwaukee Zoo, the Building Team had to meet both the health needs of the cats and the thermal envelope energy requirements of the Wisconsin climate. Nanogel translucent aerogel was installed in the daylight roofing system to allow a natural light cycle (which produces vitamin D in the cats) while keeping the cats warm all year. Nearly 50% of the roof area was replaced with ridge-and-shed-configuration skylights, including a 34×34-foot Kalwall and Nanogel ridge skylight in the lions' den.
Kalwall.
Reader Service No. 216
Custom Composite Column Forms
Construction of the New Central Library in downtown Minneapolis called for some 400 columns, each 19 feet in height, on the facility's exterior. Custom composite round column forms made of fiberglass-reinforced thermoset composite were used to erect all columns in the six-story structure. The forms withstood about 80 pours each and could be stacked during storage and shipping to reduce costs.
MFG Construction Products.
Reader Service No. 220