Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG Glass) announced that it has reached an agreement with LandGlass and VIG Technologies to sell their tempered vacuum insulating glass (VIG) products in North America.

“LandGlass and their LandVac^® brand uses the world’s best VIG technology, so their products are a natural fit in Vitro’s already expansive and trusted product portfolio,” said Martin Bracamonte, vice president, marketing and innovation, Vitro Architectural Glass. “For Vitro customers, designers and other channel partners, this agreement will unlock an entirely new paradigm of high-performance glass possibilities.”

Vitro will begin offering tempered VIG units in North America beginning in late fall 2021. The company also plans to install LandVac^® equipment and begin manufacturing VIG units in its North American facilities as the market for VIG products develops.

The new 8.3mm tempered VIG units consist of two fully tempered lites of glass separated by a non-leaded metal seal and a vacuum space. The inclusion of fully tempered glass enables the LandVac^® VIG unit to be used globally across indoor and outdoor temperature extremes, which can cause failures in non-tempered VIG units.

VIG units deliver an R-value of 14, which is closer to the R-value of a traditional wall than glass. Improved R-values in cladding materials are increasingly in demand as building owners and developers face imperative incentives to minimize their environmental impact, from new stringent energy code updates to Net Zero energy goals.

“Building envelope materials with extraordinary R-values, such as VIG products, have the ability to significantly reduce demand for artificial heating and cooling,” added Bracamonte. “That energy use reduction results in commensurate reductions in greenhouse gases. Vitro is proud to provide this new product platform as yet another way to maximize the environmental value of our products.”

VIG units can be used alone as a replacement for monolithic glass or as a substitute for the interior lite in a traditional one-inch insulating glass unit (IGU) where it forms a secondary airspace and creates a hybrid IGU that significantly improves the unit’s thermal efficiency, delivers better noise abatement and eliminates condensation.

The VIG units will be available with Solarban^® 60 solar control, low-e coatings by Vitro Glass. When a VIG unit is used as the interior lite in a hybrid IGU, the exterior lite will be available with the full range of Solarban^® coatings and Vitro Glass substrates. VIG units will be available exclusively through the Vitro Certified™ Network of glass fabricators and window manufacturers.

In January Vitro Launched Solarban^® R77 glass, followed in March by Solarvolt™ building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) glass modules, the product of Vitro’s acquisition of solarnova, a Germany-based manufacturer of BIPV technology. Bracamonte concluded, “This is just the beginning of a new generation of sustainable, environmentally and technologically focused products emerging from Vitro’s intense innovation culture.”