Alpen Windows to Focus on Passive House

In 2008, Serious Materials (later renamed Serious Energy) acquired the pioneering window manufacturer Alpen Energy Group of Boulder, Colorado—whose windows had been recognized as a BuildingGreen Top-10 Green Building Product in 2007. On September 27, 2012, Serious Energy sold back the top-efficiency fiberglass window and architectural glass manufacturing operation to Alpen High Performance Products, LLC (a newly formed company comprised of the original owners of Alpen Windows).

Under Serious Energy ownership, there have been reports from the field of quality control and customer support problems with window products. A return to Alpen provides an opportunity to regain a previously strong reputation for both quality and support.

Alpen’s high-performance fiberglass windows offer such features as krypton and argon fills, one or more suspended Heat Mirror films in the sealed insulating glass unit (IGU), and triple sealing and triple weatherstripping for increased airtightness. Alpen’s suspended-film glazing system, under the brand name SeriousGlass, was installed in more than 6,500 existing double-hung windows at the Empire State Building as part of a storied energy upgrade.

Some of the original Alpen team, including Alpen founder Robert Clarke, remained with Serious Energy following the 2008 acquisition, and the spin-off company today is well positioned to maintain leadership in the high-performance windows industry. Along with Clarke, the current team includes CEO Brad Begin, who was also with the original Alpen. Looking ahead, the company plans to be an active player in the Passive House movement. “We are racing toward Passive House certification [of Alpen windows],” Clarke told EBN.

Alpen has been operating continuously since 1981 and has consistently been the U.S. technology leader in energy-efficient windows. The company has announced that its operations and customer service staff will remain intact, as will the working relationship between Alpen and Serious Energy; it will also continue to manufacture its products in Colorado. Serious Energy retains ownership of a vinyl window factory in Pennsylvania.

For more information:

Alpen High Performance Products