The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act: A Window of Opportunity

More than 15 million low-income households are now eligible for weatherization. With previ­ous limits on average investment per home, not all cost-effective measures have been made - even in those homes previously weatherized. As a result of the Recovery Act, WAP funding has significantly increased to $5 billion over three years. The average investment allowance per household has doubled to $6500. Now, more complete weatherization methods can be implemented, particularly those that include today's advanced energy efficient technologies such as super-insulating windows.

The #1 Energy Culprit

While windows have generally not played a major role in WAP, windows are the single largest source of energy loss in homes. Up to 50% of heating & cooling costs are lost through typical single and dual pane windows, yielding poor energy-saving performance and low (or no) cost-effectiveness. As a result, combined with associated high labor costs (e.g. installation), audit tools have previously not accounted for windows.

The increase of per-household investment allowance, newly revised audit tools (eg. NEAT), and the advancement of energy efficient materials have made super-insulating windows available, for the first time, as a cost-effective energy efficient & energy saving solution available for weatherization programs today.

 Download SeriousWindows WAP Windows Performance Specs

 Download SeriousWindows WAP Windows Brochure

 Download SeriousWindows WAP Series Datasheet

SeriousWindows WAP Series are super-insulating vinyl replacement windows de­signed specifically for low-income housing homes and projects administered by Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and States. Offering super-insulating full frame R-value of up to R-4.8, the WAP Series can reduce heating and cooling costs by up to 40%. All SeriousWindows WAP Series windows exceed Energy Star 2010 revisions (R-3.3).

SeriousWindows Economic & Environmental Benefits:

• Cost-effective energy savings
• Savings-to-Investment Ratio (SIR) greater than 1
• Increased household comfort, health, and safety (e.g. eliminates lead pain exposure associated with old windows)
• Creation of green manufacturing jobs and resulting indirect jobs across the supply chain
• Low-cost reductions in greenhouse gas emissions

New Manufacturing for a Revitalized Green Economy

Serious Materials recently acquired and reopened bankrupt factories in Vandergrift, PA and Chicago, IL - an excellent example of putting skilled manufacturing workers back on the job, while improving energy security, environmental performance, and the economy.

Every $1 million invested in energy efficiency programs creates three to four building material manufacturing jobs. Each direct manufacturing job creates an additional 2.9 indirect jobs including finance, transportation, supply chains, installers, and other related businesses – a higher "multiplier effect" than in other economy sectors including services.

[Source: Apollo Alliance and The Economic Policy Institute]

"Serious Materials just reopened a manufacturing plant outside of Pittsburgh. Last year, that factory was shuttered and more than one hundred jobs were lost. The town was devastated. Today, that factory is whirling back to life, and Serious Materi­als is rehiring the folks who lost their jobs. And those workers will now have a new mission: produc­ing some of the most energy-efficient windows in the world."

- President Obama, March 23, 2009

About Serious Materials

Serious Materials develops and manufactures sustainable green building materials that save energy, save money, improve comfort, and aggressively address climate change. Full frame R-val­ue SeriousWindows™ and SeriousGlass™ commercial glass reduce heating and cooling energy costs by up to 50%. QuietRock® soundproof drywall and QuietGlass® reduce material use, enhance livability, and support dense urban construction. EcoRock™, the only true green alternative to gypsum drywall and five times more environmentally friendly, uses 80% less energy in its core production and has the potential to save billions of pounds of CO2 annually. SeriousWindows, SeriousGlass, and super-insulating ThermaRock™ drywall support energy efficiency funding programs as outlined under The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) including Weatherization (WAP), Green Federal Buildings, State Energy Program (SEP), Energy Efficiency Block Grants, Energy Tax Credit for Consumers, and Tax Deductions for Commercial Buildings. The company was commended by both President Obama and Vice President Biden for its advanced energy-saving materials and the work it is doing to create American green manufacturing jobs.