Automotive glazing
Green products
From production to the marketplace, automotive glazing adheres to today’s strict guidelines with regards to respect for the environment.
At the industrial production level, this “green” concept allows:
- a reduction in energy consumption: from 1 to 5% according to production lines.
- waste recycling: 100% of non-acoustic PVBs (polyvinyls) are recycled, as well as some of the cullet (crushed glass added to the raw materials used in glass manufacture),
- improved water management: water consumption is reduced by 2% per year,
- the prohibition of heavy metals: e.g. cadmium or lead, which are particularly poisonous for the environment.
Energy efficiency
Energy saving efforts do not stop at the manufacturing process, since these types of glazing themselves lead to a reduction in fuel consumption. This is achieved by reducing the use of air-conditioning: the anti-heat glasses make it unnecessary to use these systems, resulting in significant fuel savings (estimated at 3%), which in turn limit CO2 emissions.
These types of glass also make vehicles lighter in weight: in 1980, about 45 kg of glass was used on average in a medium-sized vehicle, compared to 31kg today. This decrease of 14kg gives rise to a reduction in fuel consumption of 0.05 litre/100km.
