The past week brought some technology plays to the forefront
of our industry. Usually I am pretty
upbeat about the possible innovation breakthroughs because I love when we push
the line. However this time I’m a little
more cautious than normal. The first of
the two chunks of news was from NREL with the press release on a thermochromic glass product. This potential product
supposedly will mix the thermochromic property into a solar/electricity
generating one. The issue I have is this
is not new, has been done, and the product they are showing still is nowhere
close to any sort of commercialization. It’s very premature that they are even
trumpeting this- but if you Google NREL and glass, this isn’t the first time
they’ve pushed their news. With every ballyhooed announcement about some solar
breakthough and then nothing happens, it does cause our industry as a whole to
take on unwarranted criticism that we are not innovating. It’s a neat concept, but that’s all it is
right now and until it can be produced in a consistent manner in commercial
sizes, the celebration needs to slow a bit.
The second story came from Merck out of Germany with news on
a production facility to produce Liquid Crystal (LC) Windows. This has some interesting potentials and it
appears this is much much further down the process line than the NREL item
mentioned above, but what caught my eye was the distribution comment.
Merck does not see itself as a competitor to glass and window
manufacturers, but rather will supply the modules enabling them to make these
smart glass elements, windows and façades. In addition, Merck assists
architects, designers as well as window and façade makers in an advisory
capacity.
So I guess some day soon your window manufacturer will be
bringing in LC to integrate into their windows… it just doesn’t seem that
doable given the technology needed to handle it all. But it bears watching and despite my
comments, I am keeping an open mind.
By the way you may be noticing a lot more news from the “smart”
glass world. Reason is based on
continuing market studies that say the switchable/smart glass market will be in
the billions of dollars in the coming years.
It’s been a pretty constant prediction of that since I started blogging and
the studies (big numbers coming in a few years!) just keep moving the goal
posts. But a billion dollar potential is
surely enticing.
Elsewhere…
-- More positive economic news… the latest Dodge Momentum Index
was very strong. It surged up almost 20%
on the commercial building side in November.
Year over year the index is up 24%.
Obviously very good signs.
Another good sign are the commercial building backlog statistics. They currently stand at an all time high with
this last 6-month stretch blowing the doors off past numbers. All the metrics do have 2018 looking to be
very good, obviously we’ll see if everything plays out like the projections are
showing.
-- Congrats to Heather Evans of YKK AP America on her first blog on GlassMagazine.com last week. This was a super read
and another great use of the medium.
Informative, interesting, helpful.
Job well done Heather!
-- Next week my glass industry MVP will be revealed along with
this years runners up. All I can say is
this has been the toughest call yet and none of the past ones were close to
easy. So many good choices!
-- Last this week… Folks who know me know I hate the
commissioner of the NFL Roger Goodell.
So obviously this week was not a good one for me when he signed a new
contract with the NFL worth 200 million dollars. 200 million.
That just makes me ill. I used to
live for sports, and especially Sunday NFL football- but that love is long
gone. 200 million. Absolutely insane.
LINKS of the WEEK
The bad guys are always coming up with new ways. Now to steal push button start cars….
Wow- I am stunned this still is done… and what a deep letter. Ouch
VIDEO of the WEEK
An old friend of mine posted this on Facebook and I was
absolutely mesmerized by it. It’s a
great song to start with but then you add the Peanuts gang, all seemingly
playing in tune… check it out- great stuff!
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