Cost-effective smart windows to reach the market in 2012

Sara Ver-Bruggen - 17 Aug 2011

A number of companies, mainly in North America, are developing cost-effective smart window products that are anticipated for pilots and commercial launches in 2012.

Smart windows are able to tint and darken at the press of a switch, or a sensor trigger, maximising daylight without overheating buildings. This means savings can be made on the use of heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, and the energy used to run such systems.

According to Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, in California, which is part of the US Department of Energy (DoE), dynamic windows can save up to 20% in annual energy and reduce up to 30% in peak demand compared to low-emission (low-e) glass currently used to control solar heat gain through windows into buildings.

Several start-ups, including Switch Materials in Canada and Pleotint in the US are developing processes for producing laminates on roll-to-roll equipment that can be integrated into glass and a smart window system. Pleotint's film, which switches based on a thermochromic reaction, is installed in some US locations, as part of a pilot and early roll-out phase.

Switch Materials is developing a hybrid film that tints and darkens by exploiting a proprietary family of hybrid organic chromophores that exhibit both photochromic and electrochromic properties.

Manufacturing line

With funding support from the Canadian government, Switch Materials has invested in a manufacturing line to produce its film for installation in demonstrator buildings, to gather results of the film's performance.

Soladigm in California is commercialising a thin-film process for depositing electrochromic layers to make its dynamic glass and expects to bring a product to market in early 2012.

Recently the National Renewal Energy Laboratory verified the long-term durability of Soladigm's glass through testing.

Sage Electrochromics, the market leader in dynamic glass, is also scaling up its production capacity to make its technology more cost-effective to produce and therefore more mainstream. The firm is looking to reduce production costs by 70% over the next five years. The company produces its dynamic glass by sputtering inorganic electrochromic materials onto float glass.

The next issue of +Plastic Electronics magazine is an energy harvesting special, with a series of articles on the latest technologies and emerging markets for printed and organic solar, and other energy harvesting technologies.
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