The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Office is launching the American-Made Building Envelope Innovation Prize: Secondary Glazing Systems to advance novel solutions for upgrading inefficient windows in commercial buildings to enable decarbonization retrofits and optimize building envelopes for building electrification.

Secondary glazing systems currently on the market can improve energy efficiency without needing to remove existing windows, but the potential of this technology has not been fully realized. The goal of this prize is to spur development of next-generation secondary windows that increase building resilience and comfort and decrease energy consumption—all while being highly cost-effective.