Dublin, Feb. 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cm7cnf/electrochromic) has announced the addition of the "Electrochromic Glass and Film Markets 2016-2023" report to their offering.
Electrochromic (EC) glass has built up an established niche market for automotive mirrors, but n-tech Research's latest analysis underscores the attractive revenue opportunities for EC glass in smart windows in both architecture and transportation.
Customers are becoming more receptive to messaging beyond energy efficiency, into more holistic cost comparisons tied to alternative glass systems with investments in shading, lighting, and heating and cooling. More customers also are "getting it" about connecting the dots from daylighting and interior building comfort to occupant productivity. Supporting these observations, project pipelines at Sage and View have doubled in the past year, which also provides more reference points and de-risking for future customers of EC glass.
Meanwhile, EC technology and production continues to incrementally improve as companies learn more about how to better work with and scale up familiar processes and technologies. One area of emphasis has been in system controls for the glass itself, which invokes favorable ties to the Internet-of-Things (IoT) meme, which we see as a needed future direction for smart materials in general.
Smart glass has been covered across various sectors for more than seven years, through which we have acquired a deep understanding of the dynamics of the various markets and technologies, including how the EC glass sector operates. We believe this report will be valuable for business strategists, market planners, and product management in the glass and specialty chemical industries, as well as at smart glass start-ups.
Companies discussed in this report include:
- Asahi Glass
- Boeing
- Chromogenics
- Continental Automotive Systems
- Corning
- E-Chromic Technologies
- EControl-Glas
- Fuyao
- Gentex
- Gesimat
- Guardian
- HelioTrope Technologies
- Magna International
- Merck
- Next Energy
- NexTint
- NSG/Pilkington
- PPG
- Sage Electrochromics
- Saint-Gobain
- SunPartner
- Switch Materials
- Tesla
Highlights from the Report:
- This research continues to see the brightest future for EC technology in smart windows. This sector is still relatively tiny today, but we see it growing substantially over the next several years. We see smart windows in buildings surging from barely $40 million today to nearly $500 million by 2019. Automotive smart windows will come along more slowly but we see this sector approaching $500 million as well, by the end of our eight-year forecast period. More novel applications are still being evaluated, such as for camera assemblies in mobile devices, where potential addressable markets could be massive with billions of annual shipments.
- Customers evaluating smart windows have become more receptive over the past year or two to understanding a broader cost-comparison of not just glass but at avoided up-front costs, such as shading systems, interior lighting, and downsized HVAC investments. Compared on that level, EC firms say they are now matching or even winning the business case.
- Another message that is resonating with EC glass customers, especially for owner-occupied buildings, is connecting the dots between daylighting, more comfortable interior working spaces, and occupant productivity. Overstock.com, which will have 40,000 ft2 of EC glass in its new headquarters in Salt Lake City, calculates every 1 percent more productivity for its $100 million payroll is worth $1 million.
- ROI of the glass itself is still something of a touchy subject; costs are still far higher for EC (we're hearing 2x vs. low-end static glass). Nevertheless, there are incremental improvements here as companies get more comfortable with and keep scaling up their production efforts. At the same time, we still think newer manufacturing and technology approaches will be needed for major cost improvements; these would include wet processing and printing, and more use of EC on plastic films.
- Projects in the pipeline are growing not just in number (Sage and View have doubled their pipelines in the past year), but in size and scope as well. Many are now in the tens of thousands of ft2, instead of measured mostly in hundreds or a thousand ft2. This not only speaks to market success, but it helps de-risk the technology and provide reference points for many new customers evaluating dynamic glass.
- On the technology front, we're not seeing or hearing of any real game-changing updates to change our previous thinking about where they all stand relative to each other seeking market inroads. We continue to hear strong support for existing processes (sputtering and deposition) and commitment to achieving incremental improvements in productivity and cost. Nevertheless, we continue to believe that major improvements in both areas eventually will usher in newer and simpler lower-cost options: plastic or film substrates, and wet coating and even printing technologies.
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cm7cnf/electrochromic