The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will provide financial assistance through a cooperative agreement from the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation’s Manufacturing Deployment Office (MDO) to LuxWall. As a domestic manufacturer of vacuum insulation technology, LuxWall is proud to support the United States’ goals of strengthening domestic supply chains, bolstering domestic manufacturing, advancing energy dominance, and bringing manufacturing jobs back to Michigan. The company’s proprietary technology is designed to significantly reduce energy costs for property owners and built environment energy draw from the grid, and the DOE’s continued support will help accelerate LuxWall’s ongoing growth and manufacturing expansion.
LuxWall is constructing a 276,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Detroit to produce Transparent Insulation. Serial production will begin in third quarter 2027 and the factory will create up to 277 new jobs at full capacity. This represents a milestone in the company’s continued investment in the state’s manufacturing landscape, following its R&D Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and its Factory One in Litchfield, Michigan.
“Buildings have a fundamental flaw: We pair highly insulating walls with poorly insulating windows. What we’ve done at LuxWall is solve that problem at its source,” says LuxWall founder & CEO Scott Thomsen. “With the Department of Energy’s support, we’re scaling manufacturing in the United States, creating high-paying jobs, and making it easier for building owners and homeowners to reduce energy costs with a solution that fits into existing systems, while advancing energy independence and power affordability at the same time.”
The Detroit facility will produce LuxWall’s Transparent Insulation product line, which enables windows to insulate effectively. This significantly reduces energy loss, improves occupant comfort, and enhances operating efficiency. Lower HVAC energy consumption reduces grid strain, increases affordability during peak demand, improves energy resilience, and makes more power available for critical needs. If 10% of U.S. commercial buildings adopted LuxWall’s solution, it could provide enough power to support 1,000 medium-sized data centers.
What people are saying
“LuxWall’s Transparent Insulation lowers energy costs, makes rooms more comfortable, and has the potential to transform buildings around the world,” says Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “Now with DOE’s continued support, LuxWall can accelerate its progress — creating hundreds of great manufacturing jobs in Michigan so they can bring these revolutionary windows to more markets.”
“Michigan has long been a leader in manufacturing and innovation, and companies like LuxWall are helping shape the next generation of American industry right here in our state,” says Quentin Messer, Jr., CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. “LuxWall’s continued expansion demonstrates the vital leadership that Michigan delivers for the nation by expanding high-paying, skilled manufacturing jobs; securing domestic production; and advancing technologies that support America’s energy future. We’re grateful for LuxWall’s continued vote of confidence in our state and for representing what it means to ‘Make It’ in Michigan."
Exclusive interview with Luxwall
Here is an exclusive Q&A with Scott Thomsen, founder and CEO of LuxWall, for Glass Magazine.
GM: For both commercial and residential applications, where are you seeing demand?
ST: We are experiencing demand across both commercial and residential applications. Right now, the strongest demand is for commercial retrofits, particularly in multifamily, office, hospitality, retail, higher education, healthcare, and other public sector buildings where owners need to improve energy performance without the cost and disruption of full window replacement. Geographically, demand is strongest in urban markets with aging building stock, high energy costs, and increasingly stringent building-performance requirements.
GM: What are the barriers to higher adoption right now?
ST: The concept of using vacuum insulation technology in windows is not new, but historically the industry has seen challenges with durability, manufacturability, market pricing, and long-term field performance. LuxWall addressed those fundamental barriers through patented breakthroughs spanning physics, ceramics, building materials, and automated manufacturing. That is why we refer to our technology as Transparent Insulation, rather than Vacuum Insulated Glass (VIG). We believe these breakthroughs represent a fundamental advancement in overall glazing performance and a shift in how windows are evaluated as a part of a broader capital improvement strategy. The next barrier is education: shifting the industry’s mindset so windows are held to the same performance standards as the rest of the building envelope, rather than remaining one of its weakest thermal components.
GM: Do you see a path forward for the industry to ameliorate some of those barriers and make VIG more accessible for residential and commercial installation?
ST: The path forward is a combination of proven field performance, greater manufacturing scale, broader industry education, and stronger integration across the window and glazing ecosystem. Property owners are already recognizing the benefits of Transparent Insulation through improved building performance, lower energy costs, increased NOI, and the potential for greater asset value. As architects, manufacturers, installers, and building owners become more familiar with the technology, and begin expecting windows to perform more in line with the rest of the building envelope, adoption will continue to accelerate across both commercial and residential applications.
