Glass energy friendly product, says EC report, but faces challenges

The European Commission has just published a study commissioned by the Enterprise & Industry DG saying that policy makers should consider the environmental and energy benefits of glass when designing new environmental policies. The study looked at the competitiveness of the glass industry which encompasses a lot of different products: high quality pharmaceutical and cosmetic glass containers, packaging for food and beverages, energy saving glass used in the construction, automotive, composites industries, as well as in electronic and domestic appliances, through reinforcement and insulation fibers, tableware, and special glass for high-tech applications. The study says the glass industry can improve the image of glass by promoting its products which contribute to huge energy-savings in our society. Low-E windows (coated glass with very good insulating properties), solar control glass (which drastically limits the use of air conditioning), self-cleaning glass (which reduces the maintenance) are such examples as well as insulation products like glass fibers, foam glass, reinforcement glass fibers (for lightweight applications such as windmills, blades, automobiles.

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