Third Annual Green Awards
Power Home Remodeling Proves the Power of Green
by Tara Taffera

Nominations were solicited by DWM magazine for its Third Annual Green Awards, by asking companies to nominate companies in a variety of categories: from dealers, to R-5 windows, to components (see July-August DWM, page 42.) In the end, it was a window dealer who rose above the rest:

When cousins Jeff and Adam Kaliner co-founded Power Home Remodeling Group (formerly Power Windows and Siding), they say their goal was to provide energy-saving and environmentally friendly home improvement options. The year was 1992, long before green was a household concept.

Fast-forward 20 years: the green movement has exploded, Power has more than 900 employees at five business locations on the East Coast, and the company was just named to number 670 on Inc. magazine’s 500/5000 list, which recognizes the nation’s fastest growing companies. Power’s 2011 sales will reach $135 million, and windows account for 60 percent of that number.

But one thing hasn’t changed since Power opened in 1992—the company remains committed to using green construction products. “These green products can reduce energy costs, often by as much as 30 percent annually and reduce carbon emissions,” says Adam Kaliner.

Window Series
While many remodeling companies sell multiple lines, 99 percent of the windows Power sells is the SL2700 Window Series manufactured by Northeast Building Products in Philadelphia. The company says the series boasts several different features that work together to maximize energy savings.

They are specially designed to reduce convection that typically occurs when warm air from inside the home meets a cold window and creates a chilly, circulatory draft. Likewise, the windows also reduce thermal heat loss due to conduction. While air leakage through unsealed gaps on typical windows can account for up to 10 percent of energy usage in a home, SL2700 windows offer premium airflow protection, according to Kaliner.

The window also features a low-E glass micro-coating. The coating is multi-purpose, reducing radiant heat loss, saving homeowners money in the winter months, and reducing solar radiation and providing UV protection on warm, sunny days. The coating also allows short-wave visible light to be absorbed through the window, which reduces lighting costs throughout the year and is re-radiated as heat in the winter. Additionally, the windows feature warm-edge spacers for superior condensation resistance, and also offers low U-values.

But it’s not just the window that is energy efficient.

“They do a great installation where they wrap every window with insulation—a lot of guys don’t do that,” says Alan Levin, president, Northeast Builders Products. “They also use high quality sealants to seal the window.”

But Levin does add that the window is very energy efficient.

Check out Green Suppliers
DWM received many nominations for the green awards and many of these are worth highlighting their energy-efficient practices and principles. Check out DWM magazine’s e-green page at www.dwmmag.com/e-green for highlights of some of the nominees.

The window also qualified for the 2010 $1,500 window tax credit and Kaliner says this went a long way in igniting sales.

Spreading the Green Message
Aside from selling a product with energy-efficient benefits, in which the company believes, Kaliner also believes in spreading its message to the “next generation of home remodelers.” To this end the company opened an office earlier this year in Melville, N.Y.

“This ushered in hundreds of new, green jobs on Long Island and the greater New York metropolitan area,” says Kaliner. “With the opening of the Long Island operation, we also contributed $10,000 to YouthBuild Long Island for its new E3 Career Training Center—a 5,000-square-foot facility devoted to training at-risk youth in weatherization, green building, renewable energy, home performance and the energy retrofit industries.”

The company also believes that “spreading its message” in general is crucial to boosting sales and fueling growth. “No one will buy your energy-efficient products if they don’t know your company exists.

“We are now the fourth largest home remodeling company in the country—in large part due to the energy-efficient products we sell and the marketing of those products we do on the radio, TV, print and the web,” says Kaliner.

But when it comes down to it, Power doesn’t offer customers a magic amount of money that will be saved through replacing their windows with more efficient ones.

"We know when they are installed right and used properly that they help save on energy bills."

“It’s not something we can calculate,” he says. “There are too many differentials: how it was built, how the sun sets, how the customers to set their thermostats. Certainly we know our windows are significantly more energy efficient than some others. We know when they are installed right and used properly that they help save on energy bills …”

He says homeowners are more conscious than ever of the need to save money wherever they can.

“While we don’t guarantee savings for each homeowner, the dramatic difference in home temperature and comfort is immediate once these windows are installed,” adds Kaliner. “We often receive emails from customers months after installation raving about the savings they have received on what used to be incredibly large energy bills.”

The strong belief in the product and the company has Power poised for future growth.

“We see ourselves being in every major city in the United States within ten years,” he adds.

Tara Taffera serves as editor/publisher of DWM/Shelter magazine. Follow her on Twitter @dwmmag, read her blog at dwmmag.com and like DWM mag on Facebook to receive updates.

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