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WIP High Energy Costs

Press Release: December, 2006

HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. - Soaring heating costs have had a major impact this winter on building owners and operators throughout the Northeast.  While a brief respite can be expected with the coming of spring, bills will
inevitably go up again when the air conditioning season starts.

The source of the problem is extreme price volatility for oil and natural gas, the two principal fuels for heating and cooling, either directly or through use of electricity.  An obvious response is to conserve energy and use it more efficiently, but that frequently means discomfort and inconvenience.

This, however, is not the case with the Window Insulating Panels, or WIPs, produced by Windo-Therm LLC in Hoosick Falls, N.Y

The ultra light, clear double-glazed panels can cut fuel costs for heating and cooling by between 20% and 55%.  The panels immediately raise the inside surface temperature of an old single-glazed widow by 38º.

“Most heating and cooling loss in a building is through its windows,” said Jim Devine, Windo- Therm’s founder and president.  “Our WIPs can thus provide dramatic savings in energy costs.  That’s of tremendous significance to businesses and government agencies struggling with their energy budgets.”

The double-glazed insulation panels, custom built to precisely fit windows of any size or type, can be easily installed on the inside of existing windows.  They trap an air pocket, measuring 7/16”, between the two layers of glazing, forming an insulated barrier.  When a panel is installed, another insulated barrier is formed between it and the existing window.  This prevents cold, drafty air from rushing in and heat from escaping.

Devine said the panels, which carry a 10-year limited warranty, can pay for themselves within two to three years by reducing heating and cooling costs.  In addition, he noted that because they provide an Energy Star level of efficiency on existing windows, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and a number of utilities have given special consideration to their use.

In New York State, NYSERDA has pre-approved the use of WIPs for its Energy Smart Loans Program.  In Massachusetts, gas utilities offer commercial gas users a rebate of up to 50% when they install the panels.  And Vermont Gas has offered a rebate to one of its large customers to encourage the use of WIPs.

Meanwhile, strong endorsements have come from existing customers.

Jan Noyes Goodrich, the secretary of Vermont Mill Properties, Inc. in Bennington, wrote to Devine in April 2005, that the company had invested $30,000 in WIPs beginning in July 2004, and had cut its propane costs by nearly $20,000 in the first winter of use.

“I would recommend them to anyone who is interested in getting control of their winter heating expenses,” Goodrich wrote in reviewing the company’s experience with the Windo-Therm panels.

In January 2001, Carol Fowler, a staff member at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, wrote not to Devine, but to members of the college’s Facilities Services group.
“On behalf of the Management and Business Department, I want to express our sincere appreciation for the excellent service, professional courtesy and ultimately the warmth provided by Windo-Therm,” she said. 

In addition to saving energy and money, the insulation panels have proved particularly adaptable to historic buildings. “I think Windo-Therm window insulating panels are a sensible fit in a building that has a significant historical component to it,”  Mayor John McDonald of Cohoes, N.Y., said in March 2005, noting that the installation of WIPs in Cohoes’ 135 year old City Hall had “made a dramatic positive impact for the city with regard to reducing future energy costs."

“From the outside you can’t tell the difference and inside they fit in perfectly,” he said. “They look like they were part of the original intent of the building.”

In a similar vein, James Warren, historic preservation program analyst for the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation and Historic Preservation, praised the insulation panels after conducting a formal review for the Cheney Library in Hoosick Falls.
“The interior storm window system installed at the library was carefully fabricated and remarkably unobtrusive due to the very thin frame and the clear film glazing, Warren wrote in February 2005 to Liz Medvetz, a library trustee.   “This is a system I would recommend for use in other historic buildings for its minimal physical and visual impact.”

In an official assessment, Warren stated that his agency had concluded that installation of the insulation panels at the library had created “No adverse impact on this historic property.”

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