SMART WINDOW STARTUP SOLADIGM RAISES $30 MILLION IN VENTURE CAPITAL, AS THE DEMAND FOR SMART WINDOWS HEATS UP

 

Windows that change tint may not be that far away anymore.

Soladigm, which makes electrochromic windows, has raised $30 million in a third round of financing. Investors in the company include Khosla Ventures and General Electric. Thus far, private investors have put $57 million into the company. The state of Mississippi has also loaned the company $40 million and given it a $4 million grant.

The funding -- combined with the announcement of an $80 million investment in Sage Electrochromics by French glassmaker Saint-Gobain last month -- is strong evidence that the market for these windows may finally be emerging. With electrochromic windows, building owners can turn down air conditioners and save energy on hot days by tinting the windows and blocking solar heat. Alternatively, office lights can be dimmed in the morning by keeping the windows clear.

"You can think of it as a building with sunglasses," said CEO Rao Mulpuri told us earlier this year.

Electrochromic windows also won't block or disturb views, like window shades or permanently tinted windows, he points out. The EU and some other jurisdictions have already passed regulations requiring window shading for efficiency, opening the market for these kinds of windows.

Cue harsh reality. Companies like Sage Electrochromics, Inc. have been trying to sell electrochromic windows since 1989. The obstacles? Cost, complexity and performance concerns.

This video from Research Fronters Inc (SPD-smart glass) shows how their smart windows change throughout the day:

 

Mulpuri (and execs at Sage) say that many of these problems have been conquered. Soladigm's active ingredient is coated onto the inside surface of the outer pane of glass in its double-paned windows. The company exploits techniques developed in the semiconductor market to apply the chemical. Wiring the windows is fairly easy with prefab construction techniques and the windows will function property for 30 years to 50 years. Unlike those photo grey glasses in the '70s, the windows won't devolve into a permanent shade of gray.

A few other things to note:

• France. Saint-Gobain made the mirrors for the Palace of Versailles. Today, French electrical equipment giant Schneider Electric bought two building management companies, Vizelia and D5X, that also happen to be French. Last week, smart meter maker Itron bought Asais, another French developer, to help it manage and analyze meter data. Earlier this year, Areva, the utility largely owned by the government of France, bought solar thermal specialist Austra.
• China isn't the only country passing us up.
• Mississippi. Republicans dominate state offices in the state. The governor, Haley Barbour, is a likely 2012 presidential candidate. Yet the state is issuing loans and stimuli to attract greentech manufacturers like crazy. Besides loaning money to Soladigm to build factories, Mississippi this year also loaned $75 million to biofuel maker Kior and issued $54 million in stimuli to solar maker Twin Creeks Technologies.  Investors tell me that the state has made it incredibly easy to set up businesses there, particularly compared to the bureaucratic tangle that California can be.

But think of it for a second. That's $169 million in green incentives to three companies in a single year. Either Barbour is a closet socialist ("Power, and Holiday Pecan Nut Logs, to the People," declares Comrade Haley) or he's found a way to convince voters that green means jobs. We'll get to the bottom of it.

COMMENTARY:  The race for smart window dominance appears to be between Soladigm (Dynamic Glass), Sage Electrochromics, Inc (PV powered SageGlass), Research Fronters Inc (SPD-smart glass) and Pittsburg Plate Glass (PPG).  

Soladigm's electrochromatic technology is protected by U.S. patents nos. 7.808,693, 7,804,635, 7,773,284, 7,719,251, 7,715,082, 7,679,810, 7,646,526, and 7,609,433, which have been assigned by Soladigm by several inventors.   

Saint-Gobain, the world's largest window manufacturer, investment of $80 million in Sage Electrochromics certainly gives Sage capital, but also a major competitive advantage in terms of experience and reputation in the window manufacturing, contacts in the construction industry, and distribution channels and nearly 80 patents.  

Sage also very well funded with a $72 million DOE loan guarantee, a $31 million tax credit via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Obama Stimulus Plan) and a $45 million investment from Good Energies; Applied Ventures, LLC; NV Bekaert SA; Bekaert Corporation.  

I have heard about Electrochromic Windows for some time while doing research for green construction technologies.  I thought a quick and basic Electrochromic Windows 101 course is needed.  

What Are Electrochromic Windows?

Electrochromic windows are windows that can be darkened or lightened electronically. A small voltage applied to the windows will cause them to darken; reversing the voltage causes them to lighten. This capability allows for the automatic control of the amount of light and heat that passes through the windows, thereby presenting an opportunity for the windows to be used as energy-saving devices.

How Do Electrochromic Windows Work?

• Electrochromic windows consist of up to seven layers of materials. The essential function of the device results from the transport of hydrogen or lithium ions from an ion storage layer and through an ion conducting layer, injecting them into an electrochromic layer.
•  The electrochromic layer is typically tungsten oxide (WO₃). The presence of the ions in the electrochromic layer changes its optical properties, causing it to absorb visible light. The large-scale result is that the window darkens. The central three layers are sandwiched between two layers of a transparent conducting oxide material. To protect the five layers of materials, they are further sandwiched between two layers of glass. All of the layers, of course, are transparent to visible light.
•  To darken (or "color") the windows, a voltage is applied across the two transparent conducting oxide layers. This voltage drives the ions from the ion storage layer, through the ion conducting layer and into the electrochromic layer.
• To reverse the process, the voltage is reversed, driving the ions in the opposite direction, out of the electrochromic layer, through the ion conducting layer, and into the ion storage layer. As the ions migrate out of the electrochromic layer, it lightens (or "bleaches"), and the window becomes transparent again.
• The challenges in fabricating electrochromic windows lie in achieving low costs, high durability, and practical sizes. The largest samples fabricated by participants in DOE's Electrochromic Initiative thus far measure 14 by 16 inches, which is suitable for a window divided into small panes.

Benefits of Electrochromic Windows

• Electrochromic windows can control the amount of daylight and solar heat gain through the windows of buildings and vehicles. The ability to control these parameters using an electronic circuit suggests a variety of applications.
• For instance, a small photovoltaic cell could be used to sense the amount of sunlight, darkening the window when the sun is brightest. This the power system that Sage is using for their electrochromic windows. This would be an appropriate application in a hot climate where solar heating is not desired. An alternate approach would be to only lighten the window when direct sunlight is available, but darken it for privacy at other times. This approach would be useful in areas where solar heating is desired. Either approach could feature an override switch for the convenience of the inhabitants.
• In a building with ample solar heating, one could even conceive of using electrochromic windows as a thermostatic control, darkening or lightening the windows as needed to provide more or less solar heating to the living space. In this case, the electrochromic window would be controlled by an electronic thermostat.
• Because of their ability to control daylighting and solar gain, electrochromic windows have the potential of reducing the annual U.S. energy consumption by several quadrillion (10¹⁵) Btus, or quads. The United States currently consumes a total of about 94 quads of energy per year.

The main challenges with electrochromatic windows are:

1. Blocking out excessive sunlight during the day without creating too much heat to buildup in a space. 
2. Allowing additional light to penetrate a space during periods of declining sunlight (evening hours and days that are cloudy or foggy without allowing too much heat to escape.
3. Keeping production costs--the old cost-benefit argument.
4. Making electrochromatic window pane canes applied to the surface of the glass have to be durable to weather the elements, wind, dust, heat and cold and moisture, especially in an era of acid rain.
5. Adoption is governed by cost and this will be a major hurdle when compared to the costs of regular tinted glass and double-paned windows.
6. Separating fact from fiction.  The energy savings is really difficult to calculate, because there are many factors at play.  Some combination of electrochromatic windows powered by cost-effective solar or wind power will be needed to generate an optimal level of "greenness".   

It certainly appears that based on the claims made by the patents assigned to Soladigm that they may have conquered some of not most of the above hurdles.  

The market for green buildings is growing rapidly.  According to research by McGraw Hill Construction, a third of all new nonresidential construction is green -- a $54 billion market opportunity.  In five years, nonresidential green building activity is expected to triple, representing $120 billion to $145 billion in new construction (40% to 48% of the nonresidential market) and $14 billion to $18 billion in major retrofit and renovation projects.

It certainly appears that Soladigm is entering the smart window market at just the right time. Soladigm, like many green technology companies, is at the mercy of obtaining sufficient financing and federal and state incentives to make investments a realization.   Their recent VC raise and the State of Mississippi loan certainly are well timed.  Naturally I am pleased that Soladigm is producing their electrochromatic windows here in the gold old U.S. A.  

I was very curious about the costs, ROI and payback on investing in electrochromatic windows, so requested this information from Soladigm    Will supply this information when it is supplied by Soladigm.

Courtesy of an article dated December 14, 2010 appearing in GreenTechEnterprise and an article appearing in the National Renewable Laboratory

 

Comments

[RadoAller]

How much is the cost rate? I wonder if the prices are bearable...