Overview of the Building glass market

Building products account for 80% to 85% of the float glass market.

Growth in building products is fuelled by growth in construction, magnified by an architectural and engineering trend towards greater use of glass in building façades, for reasons involving not only design trends but also environmental protection -- exploiting the ability of glass to capture natural heat and light, thus reducing the carbon output associated with heating and electrical power. 

Refurbishment of existing buildings accounts for around 40% of glass consumption worldwide. This is largely driven by the need for increased energy efficiency, where newer technologies in windows and glass façades provide significant improvements over older products. These additional sales are further increased by the fact that the newer, higher-tech building glass technologies represent higher-value products, as well as, in the case of double-glazed windows replacing single-glazed units, the fact that roughly double the amount of glass is used.

Concerns about climate change, escalating fuel prices, and energy security are also, in some markets, driving legislative requirements for the use of energy-saving glass technologies in buildings, such as making insulated glazing units mandatory (the case in many parts of Europe) and requiring the use of energy-efficient coated-glass products. This quest for energy efficiency has boosted demand for low-emissivity ("low-E") glass, solar-control glass, and photovoltaic and solar thermal energy panels.

Growing safety-awareness, leading to building codes that require laminated, toughened and fire-protection glass, and increasing demands for sound insulation performance, have driven sales of these higher-value products.

The industry is continuously developing new and innovative glass technologies that offer significant and desirable performance advantages over older products, which will continue to drive the trend of replacing installed glass stock with high-performance products. This trend benefits not only the industry but also the environment, as well as the safety and well-being of the people in homes and buildings that use these important technologies.

Picture: AGC Glass Europe