Governor Schwarzenegger Tours Serious Materials and Announces Signing of Legislation to Promote Energy Efficiency Retrofitting

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Serious Materials, the leading energy-saving building materials company in the U.S., today welcomed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California along with Senator Fran Pavley (D-Santa Monica) to its headquarter office and R&D facility in Sunnyvale, California. Governor Schwarzenegger announced he signed SB 77 by Senator Pavley to establish the California statewide Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Reserve Program that will lower financing costs for businesses and residences in California to make energy improvements through retrofits, like installing super-insulating energy efficient windows, on existing properties.

“Governor Schwarzenegger is a great friend of the environment”

“Serious Materials is another company joining a long list of companies in California that are proving what I have always said: what is good for the environment is also good for the economy,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “We want to keep these companies and these jobs here in California. That is why I signed SB 77 to help build our green economy, create thousands of jobs and create a cleaner environment by making energy efficient investments easier to make.”

“Governor Schwarzenegger is a great friend of the environment,” said Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials. “He also knows energy efficiency is a triple-win for everyone, which is why he signed SB 77. Retrofitting our homes and buildings with super-insulating high R-value windows saves money for homeowners and businesses, creates jobs, and recharges the Californian and American economy.”

To see photos from the event, visit Serious Materials’ Flickr page and see video coverage here and on the Serious Materials blog.

SB 77 creates another financing option for commercial and residential property owners to make energy improvements, such as replacing single and dual pane windows with high R-value windows, using bonds and/or loans that can be repaid through assessments added to their property tax bill. The legislation establishes a state-financed reserve, through the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, of up to $30 million from the Renewable Resources Trust Fund to implement the PACE Reserve Program.

Serious Materials manufactures super-insulating high R-value windows for residential and commercial markets that can save up to 40% of heating and cooling costs. As a leading example of the financial benefits of energy efficiency retrofits, the Empire State Building is undergoing a major retrofit that is expected to reduce energy use by 38 percent, save $4.4 million per year in energy costs, and save 105,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the next 15 years. Selected by Johnson Controls, Serious Materials is upgrading all 6,514 dual pane windows of the Empire State Building that will directly reduce energy costs by more than $400,000 per year. In a first-of-its-kind process, Serious Materials is reusing all existing glass and create super-insulating glass units (IGUs) in a dedicated processing space located in the Empire State Building. The new IGUs then will be re-installed and will increase the thermal performance of the windows by up to four times their current thermal performance, improving the R-value of the older dual pane IGUs from R2 to R-values ranging from R-5 to R-8. The super-insulating new windows will also reduce solar heat gain by more than 50% compared to the older windows.

About Serious Materials

Serious Materials develops and manufactures sustainable green building materials that save energy, save money, improve comfort, and help address climate change. Serious Materials’ products are manufactured in the company’s 5 factories across North America. For more information, visit http://www.SeriousMaterials.com.

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