A Piece of Glass Thinner Than a Credit Card Could Solve America’s $25 Billion Energy Problem

Here’s one more thing we owe to the restless mind of Steve Jobs : hyper-efficient, ultra-tough windows for homes.

This new kind of window could save American households billions of dollars in wasted energy each year, while allowing expansive views of the outdoors and making our homes quieter, more comfortable and able to survive even the most violent weather. The key enabling technology is thin panes of glass—sandwiched between thicker standard glass—which exist because of the same manufacturing and chemistry breakthroughs that made possible the light, strong, scratch-resistant screens on our smartphones, tablets and watches.

Typical double-pane windows have hardly changed since their invention a century ago. Filling them with inert gases or adding coatings to reflect or let in heat has made them more effective. But it’s still generally accepted that, all other things being equal, your home’s energy bills will go up or down based on how many windows you have, and how big they are.

“Windows are always viewed as the problem, because windows typically lose 10 to 20 times more energy per square foot than a well-insulated wall,” says Stephen Selkowitz, an affiliate at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a dean in the field of building energy efficiency. The Energy Department estimates that U.S. households each waste $200 to $400 a year on energy bills due to drafts, leaks and inefficiencies, for a total of at least $25 billion a year.

These new three- and four-pane windows can be even better insulators than the walls around them, but cost only about 20% more than standard energy-efficient windows. Installing them could bring big energy savings for those ready to retrofit, and could enable the construction of new homes that are so well-insulated that even when the power goes out in a winter storm, they stay warm for days. Another variant of these windows can meet the most stringent hurricane-related building codes in the country, while being significantly lighter than conventional stormproof windows.

The bad news is that Joe and Jane Consumer won’t be able to buy these kinds of windows at the local home-supply store—at least not yet. While the primary manufacturer of this type of window is offering its tech to other window makers, it’s only opened up U.S. production in the past few months, and it’s still scaling up manufacturing.

Bringing the panes

Scientists have long known the key to more efficient windows is similar to the relationship between razorblades and a closer shave: More is better. But it was hard to translate that into a product that could be mass manufactured, at a price that people would be willing to pay, says Selkowitz.

Enter Corning , maker of the thin, tough Gorilla Glass that has helped make possible today’s mobile devices. In order to win over Steve Jobs and land Apple as a client when it first started making iPhones, Corning offered Apple a fresh twist on its existing process for making glass for LCD displays and other applications, which yielded a new kind of chemically strengthened glass.

Traditional glass, called soda-lime glass, is made by floating molten glass on top of molten tin, which is a cheap and effective process but leaves microscopic flaws. With Gorilla Glass, molten glass with different additives than soda-lime glass cascades in a waterfall as thin as half a millimeter, which rapidly cools and is cut to size, yielding glass that is nearly flawless. The glass is also chemically strengthened, making it resistant to scratches and chipping.

As the smartphone industry ramped up, Corning built more factories to meet demand for Gorilla Glass. Some of these factories now use the same process, with a slightly modified chemistry, to create far larger sheets of similarly tough glass, for windows instead of hand-held devices. These sheets of glass are thinner than a credit card, yet they can be bigger than a queen-size mattress, says Ron Verkleeren , senior vice president of Corning’s emerging-innovations group.

This architectural glass doesn’t yet have a compelling name like Gorilla Glass, but they’re working on it, he adds. (“Orangutan Glass” has my vote.)

When three or even four layers of glass are put together, with inert gas in between, only the interior panes are the super-thin Corning panes, and they add little weight to the finished product.

When you go from a single air gap to the two or three that are possible with triple- and quad-pane windows, the insulating ability of a window can skyrocket, says Selkowitz, who has collaborated at the federally funded Lawrence Berkeley lab with Alpen, a Colorado-based maker of specialty windows, to research their capabilities.

Efficiency and more

Alpen’s windows have long been favored by architects who want to build super energy-efficient homes. Corning began collaborating with Alpen about five years ago, and now the company is ready to mass-manufacture reinforced windows at two facilities, one in Colorado and one in Pennsylvania. The first wave will be windows in standard sizes, says Andrew Zech, Alpen’s CEO. Key to keeping costs down are the company’s new automated, high-throughput assembly lines for making the windows, he adds.

David Schleicher, managing director of Kala, a high-performance builder in Kansas City, Mo., has been living with a wall of triple-pane windows comparable to Alpen’s on the south side of his home since 2015. Typically, such a vast expanse of glass—a total of 16 feet by 7—would create an unpleasantly cold patch during the winter. But this glass is so well insulated, it actually creates warmth in his living room: It admits the radiant heat of the low winter sun but prevents conductive heat loss through the window, says Schleicher.

“With the right glass in my house, my heat won’t even be running on a winter day, as long as the sun is shining and it’s coming in the window,” he says. “It is crazy—I will be in shorts and a T-shirt and it’s 20 degrees outside. Meanwhile, my neighbors are paying out the nose in heating and cooling bills.”

Whether or not these innovative new windows take off depends largely on the demand from builders, homeowners and landlords.

Historically, the biggest reason that energy-efficient technologies get adopted is that building codes require them, says Schleicher. Without explicit regulations that enforce minimum standards, builders often seek deals on materials so that they can maximize profits, and businesses and individuals who rent out properties often have little incentive to reduce tenants’ month-to-month energy bills.

Slashing home energy bills is just the next chapter for the tech that brought us smartphone glass.

Miter Brands is producing windows in North Venice, Fla. in which it layers Corning’s tough glass onto windows designed to withstand hurricane-force winds. Previously, the company’s impact-resistant glass doors weighed up to 600 pounds; using Corning thin glass inside has cut the weight by up to 40%, says Dean Ruark, vice president of engineering and innovation at Miter subsidiary PGT Innovations.

Despite being lighter, these new doors can pass the most stringent hurricane testing in the country: Miami Dade’s building codes for hurricane resistance. This involves withstanding air pressure equivalent to a major hurricane, and a two-by-four fired from a cannon at 34 miles an hour…twice.

The Australian sharemarket rose during four of five sessions in the week ending 30 October, but the headline gain concealed a sharp divide between recovering miners, rate-sensitive property stocks and retailers hit by inflation and weaker trading updates.

The Australian sharemarket finished October with a positive week, although the route higher was anything but uniform.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed Friday 30 October at 8,908.1, gaining 112.9 points, or 1.28 per cent, from the previous Friday’s close of 8,795.2.

The All Ordinaries advanced 1.34 per cent to 9,025, while the more concentrated S&P/ASX 20 gained 1.11 per cent.

The benchmark rose during four of the week’s five sessions. It added 0.17 per cent on Monday and 0.46 per cent on Tuesday, before slipping 0.03 per cent on Wednesday. It recovered 0.50 per cent on Thursday and gained another 0.18 per cent on Friday.

The index briefly reached 8,933.3 but again failed to establish itself above the psychologically important 9,000-point mark.

The week’s central tension was between a resources recovery and a less forgiving domestic interest-rate outlook.

Materials gained 4.06 per cent, reclaiming part of the previous week’s heavy fall. Australian real estate investment trusts rose 3.77 per cent, financials gained 1.05 per cent and energy advanced 1.39 per cent.

At the other end of the market, consumer staples fell 5.13 per cent and consumer discretionary shares lost 2.35 per cent. Utilities declined 0.73 per cent and communication services eased 0.68 per cent.

Inflation changes the conversation

Australia’s September inflation data was the week’s pivotal domestic release.

Annual inflation of 4.3 per cent pushed market pricing towards another possible Reserve Bank increase and disrupted Wednesday’s early sharemarket rally.

By Thursday’s close, one widely followed market measure placed the probability of an increase in the cash rate to 4.85 per cent at approximately 80 per cent.

That pricing does not make an increase certain. It does, however, change the framework through which investors assess Australian businesses.

Companies dependent on discretionary household spending face renewed pressure on sales and margins. Property trusts, banks, developers and highly leveraged companies must be considered against the prospect of higher funding costs.

Banks present a more complicated equation. Higher rates can support margins, but they may also slow credit growth and increase arrears.

Miners recover

BHP gained 4.56 per cent across the week to close at $57.56, making a substantial contribution to the benchmark’s rise.

The recovery followed an 8.3 per cent fall during the previous week and helped lift the broader materials sector.

Northern Star Resources added 4.59 per cent, while Goodman Group advanced 6.85 per cent to become the strongest performer in the ASX 20.

The commodities picture was mixed. Gold fell approximately 3.12 per cent on the cited weekly measure, while Brent crude added around 0.68 per cent.

The Australian dollar was little changed at approximately US70.35 cents at the reference point.

Supermarkets and consumer shares retreat

The consumer-staples story was markedly weaker.

Coles fell 11.77 per cent after its first-quarter update, making it one of the largest significant-company declines of the week.

Woolworths lost 3.66 per cent and Wesfarmers fell 4.48 per cent to $76.69 as investors processed company trading commentary against the prospect of another squeeze on household demand.

The moves illustrate how quickly expectations can change when an apparently defensive company disappoints.

Supermarkets still benefit from the recurring need for groceries, but customers can trade down, shift between chains and reduce spending on higher-margin discretionary lines.

Wesfarmers carries exposure to several consumer categories through businesses including Bunnings, Kmart and Officeworks. A renewed rate increase would place more pressure on households already confronting higher prices.

The wider market’s biggest movements

Among companies outside the ASX 20, Mesoblast surged 27.32 per cent, SiteMinder gained 22.74 per cent and Zip rose 22.60 per cent.

The sharpest weekly falls included 4DMedical, down 33.51 per cent; Tuas, down 29.95 per cent; Catalyst Metals, down 17.47 per cent; and Champion Iron, down 13.35 per cent.

Those percentages require context.

The movements in BHP, Commonwealth Bank and other very large companies had substantially more influence on the index than similarly dramatic changes among smaller companies.

A 20 per cent move in a relatively small stock may attract more attention than a two per cent rise in a major bank, but the bank can have the greater effect on the market.

How the ASX 20 moved

The following list uses the S&P/ASX 20 constituents and five-session movements reported at the 30 October close.

Where the component feed did not publish a valid five-day comparison, no figure has been estimated.

BHP Group: Up 4.56 per cent

Commonwealth Bank: Up 1.66 per cent

Rio Tinto: Down 2.20 per cent

National Australia Bank: Up 0.48 per cent

Westpac: Up 0.08 per cent

ANZ Group: Up 1.92 per cent

CSL: Up 2.05 per cent

Macquarie Group: Up 2.19 per cent

Wesfarmers: Down 4.48 per cent

Woodside Energy: Up 1.43 per cent

Goodman Group: Up 6.85 per cent

Telstra: Five-day comparison unavailable from the cited component feed

Woolworths: Down 3.66 per cent

Fortescue: Five-day comparison unavailable from the cited component feed

Transurban: Down 2.40 per cent

QBE Insurance: Down 1.21 per cent

Aristocrat Leisure: Up 0.63 per cent

Northern Star Resources: Up 4.59 per cent

Sigma Healthcare: Down 0.36 per cent

Brambles: Down 1.20 per cent

The companies dominating the conversation

Coles was the week’s standout media-facing company for the wrong reason.

Its trading update produced an outsized repricing and drew attention across the grocery and retail sectors. Woolworths and Wesfarmers were also scrutinised as investors considered how stubborn inflation and another possible rate rise could affect sales volumes.

Bank of Queensland offered a more positive corporate signal.

The bank reported that its FY26 net interest margin had risen six basis points to 1.70 per cent, ahead of the 1.68 per cent expected by the market according to contemporaneous reporting.

Bank of Queensland shares rose 5.8 per cent on Thursday, while the major banks also rallied.

Endeavour Group finished Friday at $3.39, up 4.31 per cent on the day, and released the results of its annual general meeting.

The movement was notable during a week in which investors were highly sensitive to consumer-facing companies. The AGM result should not, however, be presented as the sole cause of the share-price increase without further supporting company guidance.

Mesoblast’s 23.4 per cent Thursday rise and 27.32 per cent weekly gain returned the biotechnology company to the centre of market attention.

For editors, it is important to separate the size of that percentage movement from its influence on the index. Mesoblast was an eye-catching performer, but it did not drive the ASX 200 in the way BHP or Commonwealth Bank did.

Qantas remained part of the broader market conversation as investors watched travel demand and company updates.

However, the primary-source review did not locate a fresh Qantas announcement that justified attributing a major weekly market movement to new company information. The airline should therefore remain on the monitoring list rather than being forced into the week’s causal narrative.

Is Australia’s IPO market reopening?

The official ASX new-listings pipeline remains active but selective.

ASX’s upcoming-floats page included formal applications with offer timetables extending through October and at least one anticipated listing on 30 November.

The exchange notes that its page covers companies for which a formal listing application has been received. It does not represent every company privately exploring a float.

The wider debate concerns whether Australia’s public market is sufficiently competitive when high-growth businesses can pursue capital in the United States or remain privately funded for longer.

ASX has previously raised possible reforms designed to improve the attractiveness of the local market. These include debate about reducing minimum free-float requirements and streamlining aspects of the admissions process.

An enhanced fast-track pathway for qualifying applicants can shorten the review process, reducing the execution risk created when market conditions change during a long IPO timetable.

That does not remove the more fundamental challenge.

New floats still require credible earnings or a convincing growth pathway, sensible pricing and enough genuine free float to support trading after listing.

Investors can already obtain diversified exposure through low-cost exchange-traded funds or buy established, liquid businesses. A float must therefore offer more than novelty.

The current pipeline suggests that the IPO window is open, but it is not indiscriminate.

What investors will watch next

The Reserve Bank’s next decision now sits at the centre of the domestic outlook.

Any change in cash-rate expectations will flow rapidly through banks, retailers, property trusts, listed developers and companies carrying substantial debt.

Investors will also watch whether the materials recovery can continue, whether BHP can hold its rebound and whether consumer companies provide further evidence of slowing demand.

Overseas, technology-sector volatility, commodity prices and the United States interest-rate outlook will continue to shape Australian trading.

The week’s 1.28 per cent headline gain was encouraging, but it was not a broad declaration of confidence.

It was a rotation towards miners, selected financials and property securities—and away from consumer businesses facing a more difficult inflation and interest-rate equation.

Market dashboard

S&P/ASX 200: 8,908.1, up 1.28 per cent for the week

All Ordinaries: 9,025, up 1.34 per cent

S&P/ASX 20: 5,214.7, up 1.11 per cent over five sessions

Best sector: Materials, up 4.06 per cent

Next-best sector: A-REITs, up 3.77 per cent

Weakest sector: Consumer staples, down 5.13 per cent

Major large-cap winner: Goodman Group, up 6.85 per cent

Major large-cap loser: Coles, down 11.77 per cent

AUD/USD: Approximately US70.35 cents at the weekly reference point

Gold: Approximately US$3,885 an ounce, down 3.12 per cent on the cited weekly measure

Brent crude: Approximately US$117.70 a barrel, up 0.68 per cent on the cited weekly measure