http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.co...nt-page-1/
 

If you do some research on it, you will find out that everything his story is dead on.  It appears that the wife was nominated one week after the new VP was selected.  She would have been notified several weeks prior.

Chicago politics as usual.

You can actually see Ritchie Daley in one scene. 

Posted By BlackHatch on 10 Feb 2010 10:40 AM

http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.co...nt-page-1/
 

If you do some research on it, you will find out that everything his story is dead on.  It appears that the wife was nominated one week after the new VP was selected.  She would have been notified several weeks prior.

Chicago politics as usual.

You can actually see Ritchie Daley in one scene. 

I really don't want to see this turn into a political debate, because I don't think it has ANYTHING to do with the original topic.   In the interest of being "fair & balanced", below is a link to the response by Serious Materials.

http://blog.seriousmaterials.com/?p=1007

Hi BlackHatch. Thanks for sharing the link.  I had heard about this before, but this is the first time that I have actually seen the video segment.  To be perfectly honest, as a political independent, I try my best to stay far away from politics.  I did a bit of Googling and did find some rejoinders to the Stossel segment.  Sure does seem more like a political thing than anything.....  But, getting back to the topic at hand, I should like to ask you if you know of issues and problems with the Serious windows that I should know about?  In my case, I am looking for pultruded, insulated,  fiberglass windows with low U, high SHGC.  I am familiar with windows like Pella, Andersen, etc.,  As a matter of fact I have 51 Pella windows in my current house.    But, the reason that I have Serious on my short list for our new house plan is that companies like Serious and Thermo-Tech out of Canada are examples of companies that can offer the low U/high SHGC windows.  I am prepared to pay more for good windows.    Thanks,  Steve

Nothing fair and balanced about their blog.  They moderate that blog and I know of several people in the window industry that have posted follow ups that have never made it to their comments section.

Regardless of news source outlet, if you don't find it strange that a senior appointment in the current administration is married to a new hire at Serious, you have your head in the sand.

If you can find me one other example of a window company that has had a single incidence of mention from the Oval Office or a Vice Presidential Visit, you will lend some credibility to the Serious Materials argument.  As of right now, there is none.

As far as the window goes, there is nothing special about the performance of their window and there are several glass manufacturers that are offering high SHGC Low-e coatings.  All things are a trade off and the technology, as it currently exists, does not allow for a very low U-Factor without sacrificing SHGC.  If you were a building a purely passive solar home, you should look at high SHGC windows and thermal shades.

The fiberglass pultrusion that Serious uses is from Inline and is relatively bulky and unattractive and especially when compared to a window like the Marvin Infinity/Integrity.  Fiberglass is a great medium for windows but is inherenty less efficient that something like wood or vinyl. 

You are hard pressed to legitimize the extra expense in their R-11 window at this point as the payback schedule and overall impact on median wall R-Value is slight.  ROI calculations for most people put the break even point well beyond 20 years at current prices.

I am waiting for some new advancements in window technology before throwing money at a heat mirror window. 

Quick Google search on Heat Mirror should give you all the pause you need when considering suspended film technology.

Posted By jerkylips on 10 Feb 2010 12:16 PM

Posted By BlackHatch on 10 Feb 2010 10:40 AM

http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.co...nt-page-1/
 

If you do some research on it, you will find out that everything his story is dead on.  It appears that the wife was nominated one week after the new VP was selected.  She would have been notified several weeks prior.

Chicago politics as usual.

You can actually see Ritchie Daley in one scene. 

 

I really don't want to see this turn into a political debate, because I don't think it has ANYTHING to do with the original topic.   In the interest of being "fair & balanced", below is a link to the response by Serious Materials.

 

http://blog.seriousmaterials.com/?p=1007

Hello BlackHatch.  I am sure learning a lot as I ponder what to do about windows for our new house.  You do raise a good point about the heat mirror film.  I have Googled that topic and find that the main culprit is Hurd, back in the late 90s or so.  One site showed the decree in a class action suit.  Since we are some 2 years out from our new house build, I will be watching to see how the heat mirror film is working......   You also mentioned the high SHGC/solar shade option.  Well, I had wanted to do that, but my dear wife has vetoed most of the shade options. 
Rats!  About the only shades she will consider are a few offerings by HunterDouglas that at best give R1.  ....Given this, my choices within some reasonable distance of where we live here in New Mexico include the usual suspects like Pella, Andersen, Marvin, Jeld-Wen.  About the best you can get from them for sensible SHGCs is U.45, SHGC .6.  But I found a dealer who carries Serious and the German offering, Unilux.  I have also been in contact with representatives of another German maker, Optiwin.  But, those options, other than being costly, have tilt-and-turn casements.  Personally I find the tilt-and-turn German windows to be built like a bank vault, but the thing is, we do not prefer them for most of our house.  I have also been in contact with Thermo-Tech of Canada.  The deal with them is that I could get killed on shipping.  ....So, here I am searching for that elusive something.  ... FYI, vinyl windows are not a good choice where I live here in the mountains of New Mexico.  We have sun and UV out the wazoo.  The usual window out here is wood/clad.  Not too many vinyls or fiberglasses for that matter.  I have wood/clad middle of the road Pellas right now that were installed back in 03.  They have held up very well in  a severe weather area.  (We have the highest winds in the US here.  Nothing for the winds to blow for days at a time at 60mph or greater.  Had a 24 hr. period when they blew at 100 mph+!!).... If you have some more ideas about makers for me to attempt to attain the magic low U/high SHGC, I would be most grateful......   Regards,  Steve

I would not localize the Heat Mirror failure to Hurd along.  Nearly ever major manufacturer that used the Southwall product had failures.  Southwall blamed the window companies, the window companies blamed Southwall....and the consumer got hosed once the class action money was exhausted (didn't take long).

I would trust Suspended films about as much as I trust Polybutylene piping.

For your wind speeds, I would focus less on the passive solar aspect of the equation and more on the air infiltration side of things to start with.  Air infiltration/exfiltration will be more detrimental to your overall efficiency than will SHGC numbers.

Once you have found the most air tight window, start looking into coating options at that point.

As stated previously in other posts, the fiberglass frames for Serious Windows are made by Inline Fiberglass in Canada. Inline uses Cardinal Glass. I actually purchased my windows from them. Aside from a very long lead time and difficulty with getting accurate information regarding the timing of my window order completion (all very big issues that led to significant building delays) the actual windows are very nice looking and were uncomplicated in their installation. The window efficiency collaborative used to have them very well "ranked" in their energy consumption model. I haven't looked at their website recently, so other windows may have "caught up."  I had several dealers quote me prices on the Serious windows... and they were 50% more than comparable Inline windows. Obviously, they need to begin manufacturing their own frames for the prices to improve. Don't forget, ordering windows from Canada is tax free (NAFTA)!