PITTSBURGH, February 10, 2020 – Vitro Architectural Glass announced that its Fresno, California facility won a 2019 Green Award from USGLASS Magazine in the Glass Manufacturing Plant category.

Last year, the plant became the first float glass manufacturing plant in the United States to earn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STAR^® certification for superior energy efficiency.

The Fresno plant earned this industry-first certification by registering an energy performance score ranked in the 75th percentile or higher among other float glass manufacturing plants in the United States. According to the Energy Performance Indicator (EPI), the benchmarking tool established by ENERGY STAR, the Fresno plant scored in the 100th percentile among its peers, meaning there are few, if any, more energy-efficient float glass plants in the country.

Using a proprietary process developed and licensed by Vitro Glass, the Fresno plant uses high-purity oxygen instead of air to melt raw materials such as sand and silica. By melting raw materials with high-purity oxygen instead of air, the Fresno plant reduces natural gas consumption by 15 percent, carbon emissions by 10 percent and nitrogen-oxide emissions by more than 50 percent compared to traditional gas/air-fired glass furnaces. As a result, the plant combines exceptional energy efficiency with significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

The plant underwent a complete redesign and rebuild in 2016 to incorporate the latest advances in insulating refractory materials. It also was furnished with automated proximity lighting and more energy-efficient motors, pumps, compressors and other equipment.

For more information about the full range of sustainable architectural glass products available from Vitro Glass, please visit www.vitroglazings.com or call 1-855-VTRO-GLS (887-6457).

About Vitro Architectural Glass

Vitro Architectural Glass, part of Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: VITROA), is the largest glass producer in the Western Hemisphere, manufacturing a range of industry-leading, energy-efficient, high-performance products such as Solarban^®, Sungate^® and Starphire Ultra-Clear^® glasses. Committed to continually raising the industry standard for sustainability, Vitro was the first U.S. glass manufacturer to have its complete collection of architectural glass products earn Cradle to Cradle Certified^® status and the first North American manufacturer to publish third-party verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for flat glass and processed glass products. Additionally, as of April 2024, all Vitro architectural glass products meet the Top 20% Low Embodied Carbon (LEC) material Global Warming Potential (GWP) threshold the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) established pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and related guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Vitro operates seven glass production facilities across North America, four residential glass fabrication plants in Canada and one of the world’s largest glass research and development facilities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit VitroGlazings.com.

Media Contact:
Robert J. Struble
Vitro Architectural Glass
412-820-8138
rstruble@vitro.com
www.vitroglazings.com