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, visit www.vitroglazings.com.