Low-E Window Film for Austin Buildings

What Low-E Window Film Does on Austin Glass

Low-emissivity, or low-E, describes a coating that reflects long-wave heat rather than absorbing and radiating it. Modern windows often have a low-E coating applied at the factory. Older buildings in Austin, from 1970s and 1980s office buildings to mid-century schools and older retail strips, often do not. Low-E film adds that property to existing glass from the inside.

In summer, low-E film rejects a portion of the solar heat that would otherwise enter. In winter, the same coating bounces indoor warmth back toward the room so less of it leaks out through the pane. That two-way effect is why it differs from a standard solar control film, which is tuned mostly for summer heat.

Low-E Film and Austin Winter Cold Snaps

Austin winters are mostly mild, but hard freezes do happen. Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 and the ice storm two years later cut power across the area, in some buildings for days. In a building with single-pane glass, indoor temperatures fall quickly once the heat stops, and the glass itself becomes a cold surface that people feel from across the room.

Low-E film does not make a building storm-proof, and it will not keep a space warm without heat for long. What it does is slow the rate of heat loss through the glass, so a building holds its temperature a bit longer during an outage and is more comfortable on ordinary cold days. For facilities that had to keep staff on site through those storms, that difference matters.

Low-E Window Film for Older Austin Offices and Schools

Office buildings along Lamar, older suburban office parks in Round Rock and Cedar Park, and schools built before current energy codes often have large areas of single-pane glass. Replacing those windows is expensive and disruptive, especially in occupied buildings, and it may run into budget cycles that stretch years out. Low-E film is a retrofit that goes on in days without removing any glass.

We check each building for frame condition and glass type before recommending low-E film. If the glass is already low-E coated, adding a low-E film may not help much, and we will say so. If the glass is single pane or older insulated glass without a coating, low-E film is usually one of the better-value improvements available for the windows.

• Single-pane and early insulated glass
• Office buildings and suburban office parks
• Schools, libraries and municipal buildings
• Older retail and medical buildings

Low-E Film, ECAD Reporting and Austin Energy

The city's ECAD ordinance has owners of larger commercial properties served by Austin Energy report their energy use every year. Buildings with old glass often show high heating and cooling use compared with similar buildings, and window upgrades are a common recommendation in energy audits.

Low-E film can be part of that plan as a lower-cost step than window replacement. It does not earn a rating on its own, but it reduces energy loss through glass in both seasons. We provide the film's performance data for your consultant to model and can schedule installs to line up with audit findings or capital plans. Buildings in Georgetown and other areas outside Austin Energy territory get the same data for their own planning.

Installing Low-E Window Film in Occupied Austin Buildings

Low-E film installs like other interior films. We clean the glass, cut film to fit and apply it from inside, working room by room. In offices, we schedule after hours. In schools, summer break is ideal. Each room is back in use as soon as we finish, though the glass should not be cleaned during the cure period.

Low-E films have a slightly different look than plain glass, often a faint tint or reflectivity. We show samples on the actual windows so owners and building committees can approve the look before the project starts, and we check that the chosen film is compatible with the glass it will be applied to.