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| Whatever they're paying the window cleaner, it isn't enough. |
US demand to increase 7.7% annually through 2014: Demand for advanced flat glass products is projected to increase 7.7 percent annually from a weak 2009 base to 723 million square feet in 2014, valued at $6.8 billion. Gains will derive from the recovery of the US economy from the recession, which will spark a rebound in new housing construction and motor vehicle production. Both of these key markets for advanced flat glass contracted sharply from 2007 through 2009, reflecting turmoil in financial markets, the restructuring of the US auto industry and the collapse of the housing market. As the economy in general and the housing and motor vehicle markets in particular recover from these events, demand for advanced flat glass products will benefit.
Safety, security glass to remain dominant segment: Safety and security glass will continue to dominate overall demand in both volume and value terms, with the majority of demand utilized in vehicular markets. Consumption will benefit from rebounding motor vehicle production and the increasing replacement of traditional tempered glass with laminated glass, particularly in sun roofs and side lites. In architectural markets, demand will benefit from strong growth in new housing construction, coupled with expanding use of laminated glass products such as hurricane glass, ballistic glass and burglary resistant glass.
Solar control glass to be fastest growing products: Solar control glass will post the most rapid value gains through 2014, with demand benefiting from growth in new housing construction and expanding use of products designed to improve energy efficiency, such as low-emissivity glass and smart glass products. Supported by government incentives and the promise of lower heating and cooling costs, products such as low-e glass are becoming the standard in insulated window units for both the new construction and replacement markets. Smart glass products, while still largely in the development stage, will post outsized growth as these products begin to enter the market. In vehicular markets, demand will benefit from the increasing use of electrochromic mirrors, which continue to become more advanced multi-purpose display features on a growing number of motor vehicle models.
Heads-up display windshields to pace other types: Other advanced flat glass products include well established products such as ultraclear glass and glass used in furniture and appliance markets, as well as new products, such as self-cleaning glass and heads-up display windshields. The latter will continue to have the greater growth opportunities, albeit from relatively small bases, as these technologies gain acceptance. Heads-up displays will benefit from the increasing sophistication and electronics content of motor vehicle cabins, offering drivers more information and improving vehicle safety. Self-cleaning glass will increase its penetration of architectural markets as more builders and home-owners come to accept the advantages of the technology.
Study coverage: This industry study presents historical demand data (1999, 2004 and 2009) plus forecasts for 2014 and 2019 by product (e.g., safety and security glass, solar control glass) and market (e.g., vehicular, architectural). The study also considers market environment factors, evaluates company market share and profiles industry competitors, including AFG Industries (Asahi Glass), Cardinal Glass, Guardian Industries, PPG Industries and Pilkington.
Blast-Proof Glass Brings Us One Step Closer to Transparisteel: A construction material that's stronger than steel but perfectly transparent is a classic sci-fi invention, and a research team at the University of Missouri is bringing it a little closer to reality with their blast-resistant glass. We already have blast-resistant glass, but it has a serious design flaw – it has to be made extremely thick to be effective. This makes it very heavy and hard to implement, since you can't just slip a five-inch slab of glass into a regular window frame. Missouri professor Sanjeev Khanna and his team, along with a team from the University of Sydney in Australia, is working to create blast-resistant glass that's effective even though it's only a quarter of an inch thick and very light. The project is funded by a Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate grant.
The process of making the glass starts with long glass fibers that are only 15 to 25 micrometers in diameter (smaller than all but the finest human hairs). The fibers are woven into a cloth that is then bonded with liquid plastic resin and adhesive. The plastic/fiber section forms the core of a laminate, sandwiched between two thin sheets of glass. The resulting blast-resistant glass is perfectly transparent, avoiding the greenish tint of current blast-resistant glass thanks to the special formulation of the plastic resin. In testing, a small section of the glass was able to withstand a small explosion (the researchers did not offer specific details on the testing parameters – you can see footage of one test below). Future tests will use larger sections of glass in hopes of making the material commercially available within three years.
Woman walks into glass door, sues store: An Edmonton woman is suing a downtown clothing store for $175,000 after alleging she was severely injured when she walked into a closed sliding glass entrance door. In a statement of claim filed Dec. 15 in Court of Queen's Bench, Nora Stovel alleges she was trying to go into Blu's Womens Wear from the second-floor lobby of Manulife Place, 10180 101 St., when she collided with a clear glass panel of one of the sliding units leading into the store. Stovel claims she suffered "severe" injuries from the Dec. 20, 2008, collision and subsequent fall onto the hard tile floor, including a laceration to the right side of her head that needed several stitches and left a permanent scar. Stovel also claims she suffered contusions to the right side of her face, a right shoulder strain that resulted in bursitis and frozen shoulder syndrome, a fracture of her left femur and multiple contusions. As a result of her alleged injuries, Stovel says she incurred medical expenses for physiotherapy, massage therapy and the costs of a gym membership. She also says she had to pay $13,650 to have a bathroom built on the main floor of her house.
According to the statement of claim - which also names as defendants the store manager and the owners and property managers of the premises - Stovel alleges her collision and fall were caused by the defendants' failure to take reasonable care she would be safe using the premises. Stovel claims that includes failing to ensure the lighting in the store and lobby area was sufficient for members of the public to see the plate glass when the sliding door units were closed and that there were visible markings on the glass at eye level to enhance visibility. She also claims the store and store manager were negligent for allowing the sliding glass doors to be closed when the store's interior lights were still on and customers were still inside and visible to people approaching.
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Student hurt when window at pool breaks: The underwater window that failed was the only window in the pool. There are no district records that indicate the glass was ever replaced. “Our investigation is still in the preliminary stages, but we know that Mr. Fetherston was in the lifeguard chair and the water level in the pool began to recede,” Swartz said. “The students yelled that another student was trapped, or sucked, through the window. There was a great force of water and the other students evacuated the pool.” “There was about a five- or six-foot drop into a mechanical room,” Swartz said. “We shut the mechanics down because of all the electricity and water,” he said. “That is not a good mix and we are now beginning to assess the effects that this incident has had on the mechanics, such as the pumps. We have yet to determine the severity of the damage.” “Never in my wildest dreams did we think this window would break or that there would be an accident,” he said.
Double glazing giant Safestyle UK has released a revolutionary new window that can heat homes with solar energy for free: The company's new Eco Diamond Window allows in a high level of heat from the sun and also claims to reduce the amount of energy lost through the window by 100%. The window, which is A-rated for energy efficiency, is the latest product to be unveiled by Safestyle, the UK's leading independent provider of uPVC windows and doors. The Eco Diamond is filled with Argon gas and utilises ultra-clear glass that lets more sunlight in – helping to warm homes for free.
A Safestyle UK spokesman said: “The Eco Diamond is twice as efficient as standard double glazing and cuts down on the heat lost by 100%. “The outer pane is made from Pilkington's Optiwhite Low Iron Glass, which allows for a higher level of light and solar heat transmission. This allows in more heat from the sun and is known as ‘solar gain'. “It is free energy and will cut down on people's heating bills. It really is just perfect for people struggling in the cold snap and who are thinking of replacing their windows.” The inner pane is made from AGC Planibel A Low Emissivity Glass, which is extremely efficient in cutting down on heat loss.
The Eco Diamond Window also uses a filling of safe and odourless Argon gas between the panes, which prevents the movement of heat and cold through the glass. The British Fenestration Rating Council (BFRC) measures energy efficiency from A to G, with A being the most efficient. Bosses at Safestyle UK have repeated the importance of keeping warm during the cold weather that has taken hold of the country.
The spokesman added: “It is vital to stay warm and people can help to do this by preventing heat escaping from their homes. Our new A-rated window will help to prevent heat loss and will also help to cut down on bills.” Safestyle UK has become the biggest independent provider of uPVC double glazing in the UK, with over 40 branches nationwide. It is also renowned for its cult television adverts starring a host of celebrities and is currently showing a new wave of adverts featuring former Coronation Street star Ken Morley and Jeff “Window Man” Brown.
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Now, a new laser technology can inscribe numbers in glass without cracking, heating or leaving any external marks on the glass. "It's the only technology that can mark glass without damaging it," Physorg.com quoted Jean Michel Mestrez, Managing Director of Trackinside, the Belgian start-up company that developed the technology. It was created for things like etching the surfaces of lenses and mirrors that would then be used in space telescopes and measuring equipment. Because it is so low-impact, the laser does not damage the delicate material. The 'femtosecond laser' works much like the laser used in eye surgery, where it beams energy through the surface of the eye to make incisions deep below.
"Labelling each syringe has other benefits, too. With this technology, you can track medicine from the point of production," said Mestrez. "If you have a number labelled directly after filling up the syringe, you can trace that syringe all the way along, from production to use to disposal." For luxury goods, this new type of numbering is useful not only to track products, but also to protect high-profile brands from counterfeiting. For example, if a beverage is produced for the Asian market, but the bottle shows up in Europe or Africa, the maker can see that a grey market is operating.
New metallic glass is stronger and tougher than steel: The Golden Gate bridge is made out of a relatively low strength steel, so it won’t break when an earthquake rattles the Bay Area. When you have a structure, you tend not to use the higher strength one. As you increase strength, you decrease the toughness. A tough material is less likely to fracture. The stronger a material is, the more likely the structure will break. That is the problem. You can’t win because you want the material to be both things!
But researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and California Institute of Technology have created a metallic glass that can get around that problem. The new metallic glass is stronger and tougher than steel (and any other material known to man). Impressive! Robert Ritchie, a Berkeley materials scientist, said “trying to get high strength and high toughness is very difficult. One of the holy grails is to get both high strength and high toughness [in materials]. We call that damage tolerance.” To make this metallic glass, the researchers used five elements to confuse the material. That way, the material couldn’t flex into automatic memory and form its normal, crystal structure. This is unusual, considering all metals have crystalline structures. Window panes are amorphous and aren’t crystalline in structure. Like glass, the fabricated material was not crystalline.
“We learned to make metals in this amorphous state,” Ritchie said. “There are stronger materials and there may be tougher materials, we know of no other material with the combination [we've made]. Strength and toughness are mutually exclusive, and we’ve achieved it in a material that you wouldn’t expect - in glass. Glass is usually brittle,” Ritchie said. The group from Cal Tech made the material from five or more elements. They melted it and it cooled quickly. The material wasn’t able to crystallize, so it formed an amorphous material. The Cal Tech team cut the material into little rods and sent them to Ritchie’s team at Berkeley to basically destroy the metallic glass. The experiments didn’t involve throwing the metallic glass against the floor though. Instead, Ritchie ran the metallic glass through mechanical testing machines. The machines could barely make the material crack.
In the future, the new material could be used in nuclear pressure vessels because it has the same toughness as the material used today. A better material could help nuclear reactors avoid a catastrophic failure. Let’s remember that the new material was born out of academic curiosity. People have been fascinated with ways of finding materials that have both strength and toughness. Ritchie seems to have actually made a material that lives up to the dream. It will be interesting to see how this material will be used in the future. Also here.
Woman jailed for putting glass in restaurant meals and eating it as part of insurance fraud: A woman has been jailed for four years after admitting she sprinkled shards of glass in her restaurant meals and ate them as part of a lucrative insurance swindle. Mary Evano, 49, claimed $200,000 in compensation after filing the bogus insurance claims. She also incurred more than $100,000 in medical bills after carrying out the dangerous stunts. After confessing to the deceptions, she was jailed in Boston and ordered to pay more than $340,000 in restitution. The offences were also said to have happened between 1997 and 2005, but Mrs Evano remained a fugitive before U.S. Marshalls arrested her earlier this year. Her roofer husband, Ronald, 52, was jailed for five years on similar charges three years ago. They were accused of defrauding restaurants, hotels, grocery stores and insurers as well as doctors and hospitals. Prosecutors said the Evanos deliberately ate the glass in some cases, and at other times they just claimed they found it in the food. They targetted establishments in Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC.
Man Suffers Fatal Accident on His First Day at Work: A Suffolk company has been fined £80,000 after a worker was crushed, while unloading sheets of glass from a delivery lorry. Vitalijus Orlovas, originally from Lithuania had just started his new job for Arken PoP Ltd, based in Newmarket, who specialise in point of purchase displays for the retail sector. Mr. Orlovas was helping to unload glass sheets, each weighing more than 100 kg, from a delivery lorry as the company had ran into difficulties trying to unload the delivery vehicle mechanically. Unfortunately the sheets of glass fell; crushing Mr. Orlovas to death, another worker who had tried to prevent the glass from falling was also pinned beneath the glass sheets by his hand. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that the accident could possibly have been avoided had Arken carried out a proper risk assessment of the hazardous lifting operation.
Green building code from 2011 - DUBAI - The UAE government will introduce a federal level green building code from next year. The minister said that the council of ministers had taken a decision in July regarding the implementation of the code from the beginning of next year. As per the new code, 60 per cent will be the maximum limit for using glass in buildings to restrict solar gain and decrease the demand for internal cooling, he said. “If you have to use more due to certain circumstances, you will have to shade them or face them to north where you don’t have much sunlight,” said Al Maidour. Also here.
SmartGlass International – Leading supplier of switchable glass in the UAE. To meet the rising demand for electronically switchable glass, SmartGlass International has emerged to become the leading supplier of smart glass in the UAE. As one of the UAE’s largest specialist suppliers of electronically switchable smart glass products, SmartGlass International is able to manufacture and supply a multi-purpose building material that can be used in a variety of different contexts for a number of different purposes.
SmartGlass International specializes in two types of electronically switchable glass products, LC SmartGlass and SPD SmartGlass. LC SmartGlass is used for privacy purposes allowing instant privacy at the flick of a switch. Using a minute electrical current, users can immediately switch the LC SmartGlass from clear to private (opaque) and vice versa. LC SmartGlass is easily installed and uses a minute electrical current. Various configurations can be supplied including color tinted, fire rated, double glazed, curved and shaped.
SPD-SmartGlass can be manually or automatically “tuned” to precisely control the amount of light, glare and heat passing through a window. While glass is a favored product for use in building facades; glare, solar heat gain and UV exposure are problematic and can often make the use of glass impractical resulting in the need to invest in expensive solar shading devices. Glass facades using patented SPD light- control technology reduce the need for air conditioning during the summer months and heating during winter. The ability to instantly switch the glass to maximize daylight when it’s really needed and to provide controllable solar shading during peak light conditions is valuable and unique. While 4/5 of the UAE is desert, the region is home to many dynamic world class cities full of architectural innovation. More buildings in more cities throughout the UAE are using innovative smart glass products to improve the lives of visitors and citizens in the region.
Glass Globe doorknob: How to see into a room without opening the door - If you’ve ever wanted to see what’s on the other side of a door without actually opening it and giving yourself away, this may be just the idea for you. ‘A Room in the Glass Globe” doorknob has been designed by Hideyuki Nakayama, according to Vlad Savov over on Engadget, sourced from Spoon & Tamago. If you look at this clever doorknob, in the form of a glass globe as you might expect, before you enter the room you can see what’s going on inside and it works because the globe gives a wide-angle view of the room and does this with the help of another globe on the other side of the door from which it collects and reflects light.
First stones thrown in the 'war of mirrors' - Angry residents living in a complex on Panyu Road in downtown Shanghai are using home-made slings to fire stones at huge mirrors in a bid to end a two-year-long "war of mirrors." Elderly residents complained to Shanghai Daily that the escalation of the dispute was now posing a danger to passers-by who happened to walk into the "battlefield" and other residents' properties were also in the firing line. It is believed that one resident used an air gun in an attack on the offending mirrors.
The dispute began in 2008 when a man installed reflective glass in the windows of his seventh-floor balcony in No. 30 Building. A resident in the No. 24 block opposite, surnamed Liu, said the mirrored glass intruded on his daughter's privacy. If Liu or his neighbors looked out their windows they could see the girl's bedroom in the reflection. After complaints to the neighborhood committee produced no response, Liu retaliated, buying four 1-meter-high mirrors and attaching them to the wall outside his daughter's room. Liu said he wanted residents opposite to experience "life in a mirror" too. This triggered the "mirrors war" as other households joined in.
According to superstition, hanging a mirror can ward off misfortune, as it reflects bad luck and demons back to where they come from. As a result, many households began regarding people in the opposite block as "demons" and soon all the blocks in the complex were festooned with charms including mirrors, scissors and even broomsticks to ward off evil spirits. Neighborhood committee officials trying to reach a solution found that no one was prepared to back down. Now some residents have resorted to firing stones at the mirrors on the seventh floor of No. 24 Building.
Death of worker killed by glass costs firm $90,000: A North Shore company has been fined tens of thousands of dollars after a staff member was killed by a falling sheet of glass. Jinsong Song, 42, and seven other employees of Sharpeye were unloading 11 sheets of glass from a timber cradle inside a container on April 6. As they were removing one of the sheets, the rest became unstable and a 200kg sheet fell on to Mr Song, severely cutting his face and neck. Four workmates were hurt as they tried to rescue him. Two suffered serious cuts. Sharpeye, which is in the Wairau Valley industrial zone, was yesterday fined $30,000 and ordered to pay reparation of $60,000.
Croatian man builds glass coffin: A 59-year-old Croation man, Giulio Codiglia, has built himself a room with a shrine in his Istria home. He has decorated the walls and furniture with over 4000 photos of friends and family. The man is also a collector of medals, key rings from the former Yugoslavia, police hats from around the world along with military, and postal uniforms. Another item in the room that is worth mentioning is the 6 foot long glass coffin, currently being used as a coffee table. Attached to the coffin is a death certificate, written in Italian, that reads: “Was born to eat and drink, died because he drank too much.” Also, on the handwritten death certificate is the year of his birth 1951 and the year of his death, 2051st. A man with a good sense of humor, Codiglia likes to lay in the coffin when his friends come over, just to have fun with it.
Casement Windows Are Architects’ New Darling: For a long time, mullioned steel casement windows, the gridded kind that swing out like a door, had fallen out of fashion. They leaked badly, and a stiff wind could blow out their panes or knock their hinges askew. Over the years they have been replaced in many buildings by single-pane aluminum casement or double-hung windows.
Part of the reason for the resurgence is that window technology has improved, said Richard Kusyk, the owner of Bright Window Specialists, the New York City installer of Hope’s Windows of Jamestown, N.Y., a well-known name in steel casements. “The old windows were single-pane glass, they were putty-glazed from the exterior, and they had no weather stripping,” Mr. Kusyk said, explaining that if they leaked air it did not much matter because their usual location was a warehouse. But now, he said, “Hope’s has developed ways to make those windows accommodate insulating glass, triple weather stripping and superior finishes that will last a lifetime. They never did any of that stuff in the old days.”
B.C. researchers have discovered how to make glass films that reflect different wavelengths of light - ultra violet, visible and infrared - creating brilliant iridescent colours and traditional transparent glass. They say it is a finding that could help us conserve energy and make our cities more visually intriguing. University of British Columbia chemist Mark MacLachlan says windows could be coated with the glass film so they reflect infrared light, which heats a building and taxes its air conditioning system. Right now, chemicals are added to glass to tint windows and reflect light, but that can leave the interior of a building dark, necessitating the use of artificial lighting.
"And chemicals can bleach in the sunlight, but our materials won't bleach because no chemicals are involved," said MacLachlan. The researchers' procedure makes use of a renewable substance — wood cellulose.In a paper published this month in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, MacLachlan and his team describe how they used nanocrystaline cellulose, the main component of pulp and paper, to create the glass films. It is a multi-step process that begins with a mixture of water, cellulose and silicon, which is the main ingredient in glass. As the solution dries, the cellulose organizes itself into tiny rod-shaped crystals arranged in a spiral pattern. "The way to visualize this is that the rods dry so that in one layer they are all more or less oriented in one direction. Then the next layer is similar, but slightly twisted relative to the first, then the next layer is slightly twisted relative to the second, and so on," MacLachlan said.
The researchers then burned off the cellulose crystals, leaving them with a glass film dotted with tiny holes the same size and organization as the crystals. "Because the holes have the helical structure, the glass reflects light of different wavelengths," said MacLachlan. "We can easily tune the glass to reflect any wavelength from infrared, to visible, to ultraviolet. We can make beautiful thin films of silica that are coloured because of this structure." The glass can be "tuned" to reflect light in much the same way that beetle wings do, producing brilliant jewel-like colours. MacLachlan says that means the glass films could be used to coat walls and as people walk by, they would see different colours as light hits the wall from various angles. Also here.
A 'smart glass' bet: A Faribault company, with government backing, is betting tintable glass will "wow" the construction industry.When librarians arrive at the Century College science library, one of the first decisions of the day is whether to hit an electrical switch. Not for the lights - for the windows. The library in White Bear Lake is partly sheathed in "smart glass" with electronically controlled tinting to reduce harmful sun rays and cut energy use. "If it is a super-bright day, we dim them," said librarian Jane Young. A few minutes after pressing a button, the windows change from clear to tinted blue. "It's really cool."
The glass is manufactured by SAGE Electrochromics Inc., a 100-employee company in Faribault, Minn., that sees bright days ahead for the green technology. Though the market for smart glass remains small, SAGE is investing $135 million to expand its five-year-old Faribault plant. It intends to mass-produce its trademark SageGlass, cut the cost in half and boost sales across the world thanks to a new partnership with an international construction-materials company. The changeable-glass technology relies on coatings that switch to a tinted state under low voltage. The tinting is variable, though it never completely blocks sunlight, so there is always a view outside.
The company has attracted millions in capital from private investors. And it is also enjoys one of Minnesota's most lucrative business-subsidy packages. Government agencies are offering at least $118 million in incentives to boost employment and energy conservation. The technology is seen as a boon to the nation's power grid because it could dramatically reduce air-conditioning needs when electrical demand is highest. "Sage Glass allows us to control the amount of the sun's energy that comes through the glass electronically," said SAGE founder and CEO John Van Dine. "On a bright sunny day we can stop the heat from coming into the building."
The changeable-glass technology relies on coatings that switch to a tinted state under low voltage. The tinting is variable, though it never completely blocks sunlight, so there is always a view outside. Only a few companies in the world make electrochromic glass. SAGE began commercial sales in 2003, and has improved the technology with variable tinting and automated controls. The company recently signed a deal with Saint-Gobain, a glass-and-building-products company based in France, to combine the two companies' electrochromic patents, research, manufacturing and marketing.
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