Other Success Stories
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Professor Evelyn Wang and graduate student Elise Strobach sought to increase energy efficiency in windows through the development of a low-cost silica aerogel. In 2019, MassCEC awarded a $65,000 Catalyst grant to this project team to research the potential of silica aerogels. The project contributes to MassCEC’s goal to decarbonize buildings by making them increasingly energy efficient. Their aerogel serves as a thinner, lighter, lower-cost, and more energy efficient material for window insulation than typical triple-pane glass windows. The results of Dr. Wang and Strobach’s studies have demonstrated that their material is up to 50% more insulating than traditional windows. Existing window manufacturers can seal a homeowner’s new windows with this innovative material, achieving up to 20% savings on heating and cooling bills and a payback period for homeowners that is up to five times faster than standard windows. Dr. Wang and Strobach spun their research into Aeroshield Materials, Inc. - a C-Corp created to further the commercialization of their product. Since being funded by MassCEC’s Catalyst Program, Aeroshield’s technology has been awarded the Cleantech Open Accelerator National Grand Prize, accepted into Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, listed in Forbes 30 under 30: Energy, and awarded numerous grants from a variety of other organizations.
