Portland, Oregon’s “HBA Home Building News” journal featured a pair of articles highlighting Alpen high performance windows for the Passive Building sector.
One article highlights a modular multifamily home construction project underway this summer that uses Alpen windows to achieve its super-efficient envelope and the second features Alpen’s recent PHIUS Certification.
Both articles can be viewed in the HBA News online publication by clicking here!
April 12, 2013—Boulder based Alpen High Performance Products (Alpen HPP) is pleased to announce that they are the first manufacturer to have completed certification of their high performance fiberglass windows under the Passive House Institute-US (PHIUS) Certified Product Performance Data Program.
PHIUS developed the certification program to assist domestic (North American) and international window manufacturers in attaining accreditation of uniformly simulated and independently verified product performance data for use in the passive building sector.
“We are thrilled to be the first company to complete having its windows certified under the PHIUS program,” said Alison Ray, an Alpen HPP Sales Representative, “the results exceeded even our own expectations built around previously certified NFRC performance values, with whole-window performances as low as U-0.128 BTU/hr*ft2*F and 0.728 W/m*K.”
Alpen HPP is rapidly emerging a favorite supplier among architects and Passive House consultants who appreciate domestically-produced windows and expect superior quality, performance and innovation. The company is committed to supporting the efforts of PHIUS and consumers and industry groups within the Passive House community to improve accessibility and awareness of this important third party verified performance data.
While Alpen continues to certify performance data for multiple window options, they welcome you to contact them for detailed PHPP input data or for other information about the company and the many high performance window and glazing options offered. Please contact Alpen’s sales support team at 303-834-3600 or email wgilmore@alpenhpp.com.
Come visit Alpen HPP and our partner Medallion Industries in the Expo Hall at the Passive House Northwest annual conference in Seattle.
We look forward to meeting more members of the Passive House community and demonstrating how Alpen windows compliment Passive House designs.
http://www.phnw.org/100/22/phnw-2013-annual-conference.html
Seattle Pacific University, Seattle WA
March 15, 2013
See examples of Passive Houses with Alpen windows in our NEWS post: Passive Houses with Alpen Windows featured in Recreating the American Home: The Passive House Approach
Passive Houses with Alpen Windows featured in Recreating the American Home: The Passive House Approach
In Recreating the American Home: The Passive House Approach, author Mary James presents a diverse collection of homes designed and built using Passive House practices and techniques. Each featured home includes a description about how designers applied the Passive House approach to their projects and include pictures, blueprints, and construction details.
Of the ten homes featured in the book, four utilize Alpen high performance fiberglass windows and super-insulating suspended film glass to achieve a well-insulated, airtight building envelope and harvest passive solar heat gain for warming the home during winter months.
Homes with Alpen fiberglass windows featured in Recreating the American Home include:
Alpen windows have been used in dozens of Passive House-Certified and Passive House-Inspired homes around the country. As early participants in PHIUS’ Product Performance Certification Program, we anxiously await our PHPP-ready data to be published on the PHIUS website.
Recreating the American Home: The Passive House Approach is published by Low Carbon Productions
http://www.lowcarbonproductions.com/books/recreating-the-american-home/
Hey New Englanders! Come visit our partner, Pinnacle Window Solution’s booth 763 at NESEA’s Building Energy Conference to learn more about Alpen’s high performance windows.
http://www.nesea.org/buildingenergy/
Building Energy BE13
March 5-7, 2013
Two of Pinnacle Windows’ residential projects are also featured in Alpen’s News post, “Alpen Windows Ideal for Maine Passive Solar Residences”.
Fueled entirely by renewable energy resources and capable of functioning entirely off-grid at any time of the year, this Northern Maine single-family residence beautifully integrates passive solar design techniques with active solar collection technologies.
As part of the home’s highly efficient thermal envelope, Alpen 925 Series fiberglass windows serve in two functions of insulating and heating the home. “Quad-pane” super-insulating Alpenglass uses two suspended coated films inside the insulated glazing unit to achieve very low U-values and a high solar heat gain coefficient for South-facing windows. By selecting Alpenglass types based on elevation, the windows are “directionally tuned” to optimize the home’s performance.
The home is featured prominently on Solar Design Associates’ website: http://www.solardesign.com/SDA_Today/renewable-energy-provides-completely-for-maine-residence/
Although homeowners of this deep energy retrofit project in Falmouth, Maine initially hoped decided after cost-analysis to not take extra steps required to achieve the Passivhause standard, this superinsulated home will still far outperform most homes in energy efficiency and thermal comfort.
Homeowners and the design team selected Alpen 925 Series fiberglass high performance windows to compliment their highly efficient thermal envelope, taking advantage of of Alpen windows’ low U-values and high solar heat gain glazing. Taking instruction from the Passivehaus approach, builders set Alpen 925 Series fiberglass windows in the center of the wall construction (as opposed to setting them in plane with either exterior or interior wall surface) to optimize thermal performance.
Designed by Architect Phil Kaplan, energy consultant Marc Rosenbaum, and builder Dan Kolbert, this home has been featured in a number of green and energy efficient home 
building websites, including Green Building Advisor, Martin Holladay’s Blog, Musings of an Energy Nerd: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/more-job-site-visits-maine
On Thursday, February 28, Alpen HPP’s Director of Technical Sales, Cindy Singleton is co-teaching a Window and Door Installation Training Session, coordinated by the Colorado Green Building Guild (CBGB). Correct window and door installation is an often overlooked yet critical component in ensuring a home not only performs well from a thermal and energy efficiency perspective, but also in ensuring the home is a safe and healthy environment for the life of the building.
Key topic’s that will be addressed include: demonstrating best practices and methods for high performance window installation, explore criteria for measuring and quantifying quality of installation work and describe interrelationships between window and door installation with the whole building system.
This Continuing Education Credit-eligible one-day course will be held at Alpen HPP’s Longmont fiberglass window manufacturing facility and is open to CGBG members and non-members.
To learn more about how to join this program, visit: http://www.coloradogreenbuildingguild.org/events/event_details.asp?id=294972
Alpen high performance fiberglass windows are praised as “top performers” by noted Green Building Advisor, Alex Wilson, in his blog Energy Solutions. Wilson recently purchased and installed Alpen’s 925 Series quad-pane fiberglass windows in his own residence, which will serve as a demonstration home for super-efficient window retrofit solutions. In his writing, Wilson explains the reasons and benefits behind selecting pultruded fiberglass for thermally-improved window frames, and describes the technology and performance attributes of the “Outrageously high-performance glazing” that is standard in 925 Series High Solar Gain Alpenglass.
Come visit Alpen High Performance Products in booth 1247 at this years Colorado Garden and Home Show. The Colorado Garden & Home Show will take place February 9-17, 2013 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado.
The Colorado Garden & Home Show is the Rocky Mountain region’s oldest, largest and most prestigious garden and home show — a nine-day spectacular event — where you can find inspiration from the latest ideas and trends in landscaping, gardening and home improvement.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Passive House residences built with Alpen HPP’s high performance fiberglass windows are frequently recognized as being among the top-performing homes in the country. Recently an article in the Huffington Post lauded the Dennis Wedlick-designed Gould Passive Home (Hudson Valley, NY) as “one of the most airtight homes in the U.S.” (www.huffingtonpost.com/natalie-pace/passive-house_b_2229036.html)
Windows, along with envelope air-sealing, are one of the most critical areas for airtight performance. Because the home’s design included large expanses of windows for passive solar gain, Alpen 725 Series fiberglass windows’ superior air infiltration resistance, along with super-insulating glazing technology, are key elements to the homes’ achievement of this praised airtight performance. Photos and information about the Gould home can be found online at: www.NewHudsonValley.com.
