Dlubak Launches Green Heat

While solar modules (and the glass that protects them) are much the rage today, the panels are still a number of years away from reaching an efficiency that will allow them to significantly grow their market share. And while solar energy may someday be the primary way of generating light and heat, Frank Dlubak, president of Dlubak Corp., has launched a the new company called Green Heat to offer another alternative.

"You hear everybody saying you want to get solar energy because that's going to reduce electricity [usage]," Dlubak says. But Green Heat has begun fabrication of a product intended to heat buildings for a minimal amount of money. With heated glass, Dlubak says, "It's going to help you right now … you plug it in and you have instant heat."

As he explains, "Heated glass is nothing new. It works, it's proven, it's just the fact that we are making what we're calling a warm glass system."

Dlubak Corp. has been producing heated glass for its glass showcase doors for more than 30 years; the heated glass keeps the doors on grocery cases from frosting once opened. Dlubak says that what sets his latest company apart from others that manufacture heated glass is the way in which it is applying the product to an end use.

"We're making a low budget unit that's going to be held together with magnets," he says. "It's retrofit, you put it on the inside of your house, you … pop it in the wall and you plug it in. It's a no-brainer."

Dlubak says that using this radiant heating system can greatly reduce energy costs for home or building owners in a variety of applications.

"Let's say your kitchen is always cold. So what you do is you go turn the heat up to warm your kitchen up. What you've done is you've warmed the whole house up so now to [improve] your creature comfort in that room you're already spending more money," he says. "If you had in that kitchen an electric window, when you turn it on it would be the price of one or two light bulbs to heat that window. So now what you're doing is you're using energy but you're reducing energy because you're not turning the gas up and heating the whole house.

The cost of heating the glass would be about the same as burning two light bulbs, he says.

"It's 40 percent cheaper to run this heated glass in your home than the normal energy costs," Dlubak says. "What's important about that is that the utility companies are mandated by the government to reduce energy in some way. They could give you a break but they aren't going to do that. But if they can get you as a homeowner to reduce your energy intake by having heated windows, well they're going to say 'Hey, that's great.'"

The latest endeavor has been in the works for approximately 2 ½ years, Dlubak says. Although independent of Dlubak Corp., Dlubak says that Green Heat likely will be selling its products to the security glazing-focused sister company to incorporate heated glass products within its product lines as well.

"A big thing in the military is soldier comfort," he explains. "Right now if they're in Afghanistan, it's cold, and in their vehicles they really don't get a lot of heat. Well, we're going to have the windows heat up and warm them. Not only take the frost off the glass but warm the soldiers."

Dlubak says that the company is up and running and the industry can expect to see a product on the marketplace soon. "It's set up where we can actually make 500 insulating heated windows a day," he says.