AUSTELL, GA — Just in advance of the Greenbuild conference, YKK AP America this week unveiled a new aluminum window designed to boost energy efficiency by as much as 30 percent over standard windows.
The new aluminum window line, the YOW 350 XT, is the latest addition to YKK's enerGfacade line of products, which also includes the company's Luminance, ThermaShade and YOW350T product lines.
The new window achieves its high energy efficiency through a low U-value, the measure of a window's ability for heat retention. The YOW350XT can, with industry standard Low-E glazing, get a U-value of .34, YKK said in its announcement of the product. That level of efficiency would qualify the window line for the Energy Star rating for all U.S. climate zones, as seen in the figure to the right.
The new products are the first additions to the enerGfacade product line since its launch in September. At the time, we reported the creation of the enerGfacade brand served as a way for YKK AP to bring together all of its green building materials under one label:
"What (the enerGfacade line) does is it communicates to the design world that we have a highly energy-efficient package that you can use to design a building facade with," said Mike Turner, YKK AP America's vice president of marketing.
"How do designers go and choose the right products to meet their goals?" Turner said, "With this enerGfacade product line, architects know where to go. They don't have to filter through lots of different product lines to get what they need."
YKK AP America is the U.S. arm of YKK AP, a global manufacturer of architectural products with annual sales of about $3 billion, and both are part of the YKK Group, a $6 billion company that also produces zippers and other fastening products.
The company will be showcasing all of its green building products at the Greenbuild Expo next week in Phoenix, Ariz.