#16 LuxWall

Transforming buildings with advanced energy-efficient glass

Read time: 5 minutes

Hi, I’m Javi Gascón.

This is Climate Tech Distillery, a newsletter where I talk about one specific climate tech company every week.

Subscribe to the free Substack version of this newsletter if you want to:

1) Avoid missing new articles by getting them delivered to your inbox.

2) Have access to 30+ previous articles.

3) Get the articles sooner.

Today we’ll distill a company that’s revolutionizing windows with energy-efficient, high-performance vacuum-insulated glass: LuxWall ????

Want to sponsor Climate Tech Distillery? Here’s all the info.

What Problem Does LuxWall Tackle?

They address the very specific and significant problem of energy loss through windows in buildings. Don’t think it’s a big deal? Keep reading.

1. Energy Loss: Windows are the single largest source of energy loss in buildings (60% in buildings with single pane windows!), accounting for a substantial portion of heating and cooling costs.

2. Carbon Emissions: Buildings are responsible for 30% of global energy consumption and 38% of carbon emissions. If we do the math, energy losses from windows alone are responsible for over 1% of global CO2 emissions!

3. Economic Impact: The energy inefficiency of traditional windows results in high utility bills, drastically increasing the operational costs for building owners.

4. Regulatory Compliance: With increasing legislation to limit emissions, such as New York City's Local Law 97, buildings must meet strict energy efficiency standards, which traditional windows often fail to achieve.

Just think about the 2+ billion buildings in the world, and all the windows they have…

Product / Service ??

Pretty straightforward. LuxWall's product, Enthermal?, is a high-performance vacuum insulating glass (VIG) technology designed to significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in buildings.

Energy Efficiency: Enthermal? reduces building heating costs by up to 45% and cooling costs by up to 20%, thanks to its high R-value thermal insulation.

Cost Savings: The technology can be retrofitted into existing window frames, reducing installation costs by up to 50% and providing a payback period of just 3 to 7 years.

Environmental Impact: Enthermal? helps reduce global carbon emissions, with the potential to cut more than 1% of CO2 annually with mass adoption.

Minimal Disruption: Installation can be completed from the interior of the building, minimizing tenant disruption.

Enthermal? is like a "thermos bottle for buildings”.

Market ??

The specific vacuum-insulated glass market was worth $1.7 billion in 2021 and will be worth $4.2 billion by 2028. LuxWall’s market share is already above 25%. If we look at the broader energy-efficient building materials market, we see a 2023 market value of $62.54 billion and projected value of $123.78 billion by 2030, that’s a 10.25% CAGR.

Other Key Players

LandVac ???? and VacuMax ???? are both incumbents in the vacuum-insulated glass market. Their products are applied to industrial machinery and equipment as well as buildings.

LuxWall is the newest in the market but the one with the best thermal performance and practical installation advantage, making it particularly attractive for building retrofits. They are also growing the fastest and attracting the most VC money.

Founding Story ??

LuxWall was founded in 2016 by Scott Thomsen, a veteran in the glass industry. He previously was the CTO and President of Guardian Industries (glass products) and brought his extensive experience in material science and glass technology to the new venture.

His vision was to disrupt the traditional glass industry with transparent, high-performance, vacuum-insulated glass that significantly reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions in buildings. He decided to build the HQ in Michigan and start disrupting the traditional glass industry.

The massive potential impact of LuxWall’s tech on CO2 emissions, has helped the company raise over $121 M from Government institutions and climate VCs like Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, and 2150.

Top Impact Stats ??

1. Their high-performance glass reduces carbon emissions by 5 kg per square foot of building floor space when single pane glass is replaced.
2. 3X reduction in payback period (based on single pane retrofit), as a direct result of energy cost savings.
3. 4X better insulation than current high-performance glass with R-values between R-18 and R-21.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. Scale and optimize your climate business: I build low-code automation systems for climate companies so they can free up time to scale their revenues and their climate impact.

2. Give visibility to your climate company: Get your company in front of an audience of thousands of climate players and enthusiasts by sponsoring newsletter issues and LinkedIn posts.

Thanks for reading today’s issue! If you liked it feel free to hit the ?? button and share it with someone who might like it too. See you next Sunday :)