Wednesday, 23 December 2015

Increasing R&D Efforts to Propel Smart Windows Market


The market for smart windows has experienced many ups and downs in the past few years. This market is involved in development of glasses which are used for manufacturing smart windows. The smart windows market industry is marked by continuous research and development activities, which are geared towards making more innovative smart windows solutions.

What are Smart Windows?

The windows that possess the ability to become darker or lighter according to the brightness and heat of sunlight are called smart windows. Smart windows are the variety of high-tech glasses that can quickly change from clear to opaque or tinted, or that can selectively block light, heat or glare, according to specific climatic conditions.

Why are Smart Windows Needed?

We need windows for letting light and heat in a premise, but selectively. On a blinding summer day for instance, the sunlight that enters a premise contains an extreme quantity of heat that increases the temperature of the place, even with curtains and blinds in place. This requires you to keep those air conditioners continuously running - a huge waste of energy and money, also a nuisance for the environment. However, unlike walls and roof of a premise, windows cannot be insulated completely, nor can we permanently coat them with typical non-transparent materials that have the capability blocking light and thus reducing the heat of the premise.

The tremendous amount of energy used for operating ACs in commercial or residential complexes can put a huge burden on the energy-conscious world of today, and thus calls for ways to reduce these costs. Smart windows show the potential of reducing heating and cooling costs significantly. They also provide benefits such as window glasses turning dark to create privacy in conference rooms, or limiting sound transmission and easing the process of sterilization of premises such as hospitals where curtains make the process difficult, etc.

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What are the Smart Window Options Available in the Market and are these Feasible?

The rising frenzy about energy conservation, green buildings, and ‘green everything’ from across the globe has led to an increased focus on making commercial and domestic building premises more energy efficient. This trend is even insisting on the need for air conditioning systems should be eliminated. The increased research about smart windows has led to the development of four different varieties of glass technologies for smart windows:

Photochromic Smart Windows: These glasses work exactly like sunglasses coated with photochromatic material work - they darken in response to direct sunlight. These glasses have the disadvantage that they are not very energy-efficient during winters. Especially on a cold but sunny day, instead of letting in light and heat, such glasses will automatically darken. Thermochromic Smart Windows: These glasses are coated with a thermotropic material which responds to heat. While these glasses can help in significantly reducing air conditioning costs in regions with extreme hot climates, they are not very suitable for view windows.

Liquid Crystal Display Smart Windows: These windows are opaque in their natural state when liquid crystals in them are randomly spread out. When energy is applied, the liquid crystals align and make the glass clear, letting light freely pass through it. While such glasses are good for privacy purposes, they are not efficient for blocking light or to provide energy savings.Electrochromic Smart Windows: These glasses have a layer of an electrochromic material between two layers of a typical glass or a sheet of some translucent material. By applying current in varying proportions, electrochromic glasses turn dark. The darkness of such glasses can range in varying proportions of clear to opaque, making them suitable for numerous purposes such as cutting solar heat, privacy, and reducing glare, etc.

Current Market Scenario

The costs of smart windows are currently high. However, in commercial settings where the overall heating and cooling costs make a big portion of the yearly financial spending, smart windows are continuously observing increased demand. While demands from commercial setups are a positive thrust to the smart windows market, they are currently too expensive for residential applications. But, an increase in funds from federal bodies for R&D for cost-efficient smart windows will soon allow firms to penetrate into domestic markets as well.

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