Through Harmony Environmental, LLC, an independent third party, a Life Cycle Assessment was completed, consistent with International Standards Organization (ISO) standards, at the end of 2010 and concluded that the division's solar-control architectural window film products become carbon neutral less than two months after installation. With an average service life of 15 years, this means that our products are typically providing 14-plus years of greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions after accounting for the products' total carbon footprint.
Performance Films currently has 54 architectural solar-control film products in its LLumar® and Vista™ brand portfolios, including the game-changing EnerLogic™ Series with its advanced low-e technology that can upgrade the insulation performance of single-pane windows to dual-pane and dualpane to triple-pane while delivering industry-leading all-season energy savings.
Upgrading current windows with LLumar or Vista architectural films produces less than 1 pound of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-e) per square foot which is 70 -115 times less than the carbon footprint of replacing current windows with new vinyl or wood framed low-e windows.
The Life Cycle Assessment performed by Harmony Environmental also provided an unbiased evaluation of Performance Films' manufacturing processes and will further enable our division to reduce energy consumption, reduce our impact on the environment and ultimately improve our customer's carbon footprint.
A Life Cycle Assessment is a "cradle-to-grave" approach for assessing industrial systems, evaluating all stages of a product's life and thus enabling one to estimate cumulative environmental impacts, including impacts not considered in more traditional analyses (e.g. – raw material extraction, material transportation, ultimate product disposal, etc.). Companies have found it beneficial to move beyond just environmental compliance, using Life Cycle Assessment to provide a comprehensive view of the environmental impacts of their products and processes.
At Performance Films, we are focused on impacting both ends of the carbon footprint equation. This includes how we can decrease the energy and emissions required to make our products as well as increasing the energy and emissions savings our products provide to our customers. Specifically, the study reviewed the impact of the use of architectural window films on the company's carbon footprint and determined if the potential energy savings and subsequent avoided GHG emissions from the use of architectural window film offsets the energy use and GHG emissions from the manufacturing of the division's products.
The results from the study concluded that Performance Films' architectural window films deliver a positive impact for the environment, including savings in energy and avoidance of solid wastes and greenhouse gas emissions. The results are even more impressive considering the savings from architectural window films alone was measured against the carbon footprint and environmental impact of all of Performance Films products made in 2009, including both architectural and automotive window films as well as a variety of industrial products.
