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S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 | 31 Curtain Wall & Window Wall LiteZone offers numerous methods to incorpo- rate higher performing, thicker LiteZone glass units in an existing curtain wall system in order to dra- matically improve the overall energy efficiency of the building envelope. The first entails using an adapter to modify the curtain wall's glass pocket, another requires no modification to the curtain wall's glass pocket and instead installs higher per- forming thicker LiteZone glass units on existing curtain wall systems without modifications to the glass pocket. "We are doing some exciting things to dramati- cally upgrade the thermal performance of existing curtain walls using an innovative detail to replace one-inch IGUs with thicker, higher-performing LiteZone. The City of Ottawa is using this innovation to upgrade one of their buildings," explains Greg Clarahan, president and CEO of LiteZone Glass Inc. Ontario-based Noram Glass is also seeing a push towards increasing energy efficiency towards Net Zero, with triple glazing and electrochromic glass being among the features that are specified by architects in more and more projects. In this regard, one project of note that Noram has been involved in is the new Google Office in Kitchener, Ontario, which features triple glazing. "Using triple glazing helps to significantly improve U-value, and for this reason, is becoming a more frequently specified feature in buildings with a focus towards energy efficiency," explains Jess Redlarski at Noram. "Electrochromic glass or smart glass works to maintain daylight access, while also improving SHGC and reducing costs associated with temperature control and the need for artificial lighting – this makes it ideal for projects with promi- nently glass facades." Noram's prediction for the future is that VacuMax vacuum insulating glass (VIG) by Vitro Architectural Glass has the potential to become the next milestone in energy efficiency improvements in the building facade industry. "We predict that it will be one of the major features down the line in projects that require a high level of energy efficiency as the u-value improves two to four times over conventional glass units, capable of achieving the insulating value of R-16+, but with a few additional customizations, can reach up to R-36," explains Redlarski. As for the immediate future, the skilled team at Noram is excited to see the growing demand in pre- fabrication and unitization of building facades, with trajectory on its way to becoming the most sought standard in glazing. "Unitization is already the stan- dard on large glazing projects, but we are seeing this trend in both small and medium projects as well," says Redlarski. A Google Office, Kitchener, ON P H OTO G R A P H Y CO U RT E S Y N O R A M G L A SS

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