Solar Control Glazing for Cars
Car Air-Conditioning Proves to be Hidden Cause of Poor Fuel Efficiency in Summer.
The NSG Group is one of the world's leading suppliers of automotive glazing. Every year approximately 60 million cars are sold worldwide with a total of 869.82 million vehicles in use in 2005 (based on data provided by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers' Association, Inc.) . Furthermore, in line with changing automobile designs, the area of glass installed per vehicle increases every year.
At present, over 20 per cent of global CO2 emissions come from automobiles. In Japan, cars are responsible for about 20 per cent of the nation's CO2 emissions, explaining the recent surge in the importance of reducing automobile CO2 emissions. Correspondingly, although improvements in fuel efficiency, which dictates automobile CO2 emission levels, are made every year, the amount of energy needed to cool the inside of a car in summer through the use of air-conditioning is exceptionally high. Moreover, this not only causes a decrease in fuel efficiency, but also places a substantial burden on the environment.
Automotive glazing manufactured by the NSG Group possesses high thermal insulation properties that contribute to reducing solar heat build-up inside the car, which thereby lowers the load on the air-conditioning unit, improves fuel efficiency and greatly reduces the car's level of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, reducing the heat burden within the car positively affects the temperature regulation inside the car when the engine is stopped. Accordingly, the NSG Group's solar control glazing performs a major role by achieving solar control properties.
(Standard European vehicles)
Infrared-Reduction Glass Lowers Thermal Load on Cars.
While solar rays consist of ultraviolet, visible light and infrared rays, it is the penetration through car glazing of infrared radiation that leads to heat build-up in vehicles. Consequently, by integrating an infrared-blocking feature into the automotive glazing, heat rays are partly transmitted, reflected and absorbed to contribute to the reduction of heat build-up within vehicles.
Automotive glazing with this feature is called "infrared reduction glass" or "solar control glazing" and consists of an infrared-reflecting film that is sandwiched between two pieces of glass. This type of glass provides high thermal insulation, reducing air-conditioning load and improving fuel efficiency.
The NSG Group is a leading supplier of these functional infrared reduction and solar control glazing materials. Pilkington Automotive’s functional solar control brands include Optikool™ and EZ-KOOL®
By reducing a standard vehicle's thermal load by 5 per cent, it becomes possible to cut the electricity consumption of the air-conditioning unit by 10 per cent and thereby improve fuel consumption efficiency by 2 per cent-4 per cent (Source: NSG Group data). Therefore, if all cars around the world were to use solar control glazing, we would expect that the improved fuel efficiency would have a significant and positive effect on the reduction of global CO2 emissions. With this in mind, the NSG Group's new glass development and product diffusion efforts are one way in which the Group is practicing social accountability.
