Over the years coatings have been a key for improved energy efficiency of buildings through more effective thermal management than that of traditional glass whilst maintaining high visibility and transparency. Whether Low Emissivity coatings to reduce heat loss from buildings in cold climates or Solar control coatings which reduce need for air conditioning – these films play a key role in enhancing comfort inside, as well as the overall energy efficiency of the building.

NSG Group continues to expand its range of online coatings and provide additional functionalities. In Architectural, technologies such as self-cleaning coatings, combined with the additional coatings further enhance product benefits to consumers together with environmental benefits.

A key growth area is the use of NSG's online coatings as a key component for future technologies. Development of NSG TEC^™ (Transparent Electrically Conductive Glass) range allows glass to act like an invisible wire. Using this technology companies are building their devices on top of our glass coatings.

This technology enables significant growth of the Thin Film Solar market with our coated glass playing a key role in Thin Film Photovoltaic devices. Thin Film CdTe Photovoltaic modules are already being used in large scale worldwide. NSG Group is a key supplier of the coated glass to the world's largest thin film solar manufacturer, First Solar Inc.

Thin Film Photovoltaic technologies continue to develop. An exciting growth area is in Perovskites. Developers of this new Thin Film Photovoltaics also use our coatings for their devices. By tuning our coatings, we can support these technologies in their drive to higher efficiency and commercial viability.

Whilst these photovoltaic technologies focus on residential or utility scale power production, organic photovoltaic cells offer potential for energy generation whilst maintaining visibility through glass. This enables architects to consider the use of photovoltaics as an alternative to more conventional windows and is called Building Integrated Photovoltaics. Our NSG TEC^™ range plays a key role in this exciting opportunity. In the future, entire building facades could provide power for the building whilst also providing the traditional benefits that glass has offered for hundreds of years - excellent visibility and protection.

Easy to clean/anti-viral coating is expected to be utilized in a wide variety of applications including touch displays and architectural applications.

NSG Group was the first glass manufacturer to produce anti-fogging coating for the ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistant System) system in the world. As information society progresses, monitoring devices become more common in everyday life. NSG Group develops the technology to contribute to the new opportunities in this area.

Utilizing solar energy is increasingly important, as we fight the climate change. Anti-reflection coating technology provides many opportunities such as maximizing light collecting and loosening cleaning burden of solar modules.

It is anticipated that the world's population will grow up to 8.5billion by 2030. Global warming is also influencing agriculture every year. In response to such environmental changes, smart agriculture with greenhouses made of glass is a possible solution. Here, light control is important. Sol-gel coating can provide various functionalities for light control including anti-reflection, light scattering and light conversion to desired light colour and anti-soiling.

Millions of birds each year are killed as they fly into windows. By a careful study of what birds can see NSG Group has been able to develop a special coating called Pilkington AviSafe^™ which enhances the visibility of the glass. This helps birds to avoid flying into glass.

Whilst glass is known for its high transparency, in some situations the reflections from the glass surface can be distracting. NSG Group has developed coatings which reduce these harmful reflections significantly and make the view through the glass clearer. Whether to make shop windows clearer or museum items easier to view whilst also providing protection, these coatings enhance user experience.

Photo: Pino & Nicola Dell’Aquila