In early October, the renowned Passive House Institute Darmstadt (PHI) held its International Passive House Conference in Gaobeidian, China.
The crowning glory saw the presentation for the first time of the “Passive House Innovation Award”, awarded for particularly innovative products and ideas. The award was presented to the SWISSPACER Triple, the warm edge spacer bar for triple glazing, among others.
“With the new ‘Passive House Innovation Award’, we want to create a platform that gives particularly forward-thinking products and ideas a high level of attention and added momentum,” explained Dr. Benjamin Krick, Managing Director of the Passive House Institute. Out of over 1000 certified Passive House components, the PHI also chose the SWISSPACER Triple. “This innovative product has the potential to make the edge of the glass even more durable and to further reduce manufacturing costs,” said Prof. Wolfgang Feist, founder and Scientific Director of the PHI, at the award ceremony.
Peter Appel, Sales & Marketing Director Overseas and Head of Development New Territories at SWISSPACER, accepted the Innovation Award, “It is a great honour and privilege for us to hold the first ‘Passive House Innovation Award’ in our hands. It motivates us to remain faithful to our aim in future: developing new solutions to advance our industry and society as a whole.”
The Triple was developed for triple glazing. It fixes the centre pane of glass in a special groove and holds it in place. This means that thinner panes can be used in the middle of the triple glazing, significantly reducing the overall weight of the glass. As only two butyl zones are now needed for the primary glazing edge, this also reduces the risk of loss of gas or the entry of moisture into the cavity between the panes. This helps increase the service life of the insulating glass. In addition, the SWISSPACER Triple ensures a perfect appearance, as the spacer frames connected by a bar are 100 percent parallel. Building on the technology of the SWISSPACER Ultimate, the Triple ensures maximum energy efficiency at the edge of the glass.
“In the past few years, there has been encouraging progress in terms of the thermal quality of windows,” said Dr. Krick. “With our ‘Passive House Component Award’, we want to support its implementation for the masses. Why? Thermally improved windows perform well in terms of life cycle costs, CO2 savings and energy balance and are therefore also an interesting factor from an economic perspective.”
This year’s “Passive House Component Award” saw entries from 23 companies from 12 countries with a total of 31 products. Peter Appel was delighted, “The SWISSPACER Ultimate is fitted in 23 of the entries, which shows how much window manufacturers rely on the performance of our warm edge.” Based on the submissions, the jury presented 10 regular awards and 3 special awards.
The award ceremony of the “Passive House Innovation Award” and the “Passive House Component Award” were held at the 23rd International Passive House Conference in Gaobeidian. Under the principle of “Passive House worldwide!”, from 9-11 October, international experts in the northern Chinese province of Shandong enjoyed a top-class conference programme.
“Nowhere else in the world is so much being newly built as in China,” said Passive House founder, Prof. Feist. “Therefore, the interest in sustainable construction is also particularly high. We are delighted that we are able to present and discuss the Passive House idea and our know-how here.”
The PHI certificate “Passive House component” is the world’s most demanding seal for energy efficiency. It sets the highest standards and ensures reliable quality on the market.
The premium spacer bars SWISSPACER ULTIMATE and SWISSPACER ADVANCE have borne the PHI component seal since 2015, while the SWISSPACER TRIPLE was awarded the seal in 2019. So anyone looking for highly efficient glazing for their building that opts for Passive House certified elements can lay the best possible foundations with SWISSPACER.
Further information: www.swisspacer.com.