"Green" Glass

Architectural glass is one of the most important products in any green building project today. The ideal architectural glass is one that permits the greatest amount of natural light to enter a building while simultaneously limiting, to the greatest extent possible, the thermal effects of infrared energy and solar heat gain. A glass’s ability to achieve this ideal is determined by its Light to Solar Gain ratio (LSG). Any glass that achieves an LSG of more than 1.25 is considered to be spectrally selective.

In the 1930’s, PPG made history when it developed Solexia^® glass (formerly Solex^® glass), the first spectrally selective glass, which is now part of the Oceans of Color^® collection. Fifty years later, PPG introduced the world’s first low-e coated product, Sungate^® 100 glass.

Today, the products in PPG’s Oceans of Color line have LSGs (Light-to-Solar Gain ratios) ranging from 1.41 to 1.56, making them the world’s best performing line of spectrally selective tinted glasses. And, PPG’s Sungate^® line has evolved into the Solarban^® family of low-e glass, which has become one of the architectural glass industry’s most effective and widely specified products. The high performance of these products makes them the perfect candidates for any green building project.

To learn more about PPG glass products, click here.