Windows Get Smart In Green Building

Sage Electrochromic gets lots of LEED points for its dynamically tinting windows that can block sunlight and heat.

Keeping people happy, or comfortable, is one of the many factors looked at under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, Green Building Rating System. But people like to have windows, and those windows can be a big problem for companies looking to save energy.

"It's the weakest energy link in a building," John Van Dine, chairman and CEO of Sage Electrochromic, told Cleantech.com.

Sage Electrochromics, based in Faribault, Minn., which Van Dine calls the "Silicon Valley of the window industry," has a dynamically tinting window that can keep the view, but still block the heat and sunlight when needed.