The Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program is enabling a number of low-income homes to receive efficiency measures, like super insulated windows. As the prospect of colder weather rolls in, green panes could rise to new stimulus-fueled peaks.

Windows are a $20 billion market in the U.S. and stimulus funds have allocated $5.5 billion for weatherization for the next three years. Manufacturing weatherization materials may be the green stimulus idea investors have been waiting for.

McGraw-Hill Construction predicted a slight improvement in U.S. construction from 2008, which could bolster green prospects. Green building was forecast in the report to grow to 10 percent of the market share ($60 billion).

A California-based green buildings materials company has taken over two failing factories, one in Pennsylvania (Kensington Windows) and one in Illinois. In the case of Illinois, Serious Materials received praise from the White House for choosing to retrofit an existing (previously Republic Windows and Doors) plant for green manufacturing.

Serious is no babe in the woods -- they were one of the few production-ready green materials companies at the beginning of the recession receiving venture capital support. However, like many green industries, oft-mentioned job creation in green building manufacturing has been slow to occur.

According to a recent Working In These Times article, the Goose Island plant displays how slow green jobs can be to materialize, having only employed 15 former Republic employees. The U.S. Department of Labor is still developing wages for the new brands of jobs in weatherization.

Serious Materials products live up to their namesake, with some full-frame windows that exceed Energy Star requirements by up to 4 times. The company also recently supplied materials to the first LEED Gold-certified venture capital firm.

Serious Materials' insulating windows, the SeriousWindows WAP Series, can deliver as much as 12 times more household energy savings than other measures. These windows can be employed by states and agencies in low-income housing situations.

RavenBrick, a smart and green building technology company, is tackling efficient windows in an entirely different way. Instead of using insulation (R5-R11), RavenWindows intelligently adjust their opacity to reflect heat or to allow for more light.

"Intelligent solar-managed windows are a simple yet effective way to reduce energy consumption," said Erin Whitney, chromogenic windows testing coordinator at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. RavenBrick was awarded a contract to assist in the construction of Research Support Facilities to be used by the NREL and the Department of Energy.

With a growing need for low-income focused efficiency retrofitting and new construction combined with increasingly stringent green building requirements, companies that produce green materials will be in demand.