Market Dynamics
North america coated glass market drivers
The coated glass industry is primarily driven by increased demand for commercial projects. Concerns about rising air conditioning costs in commercial buildings are expected to drive up demand for solar control glass in the foreseeable future. The emergence of the automotive industry as a specialty application segment may drive up demand for coated glass even further.
Coated glass is widely utilized for facades, partitions, windows, and other applications in the building and construction industry, making it a major market segment for coated glass. Because of its ability to reduce the cost of air conditioning and heating for the building's occupants, coated glass is employed as energy-saving glass in structures.
Governments are enacting a variety of building regulations in order to reduce building energy use. This is a huge opportunity for the coated glass business. The expansion of painted glass in architectural applications is being driven by growing awareness of energy efficiency, global warming, an increase in green building construction, and technological breakthroughs in the coated glass.
In addition, coated glass can be mixed with other types of glass to achieve value-added characteristics such as noise reduction, ornamental look, and safety and security. The IEA predicts that the global energy consumption of air conditioning systems will quadruple by 2050. As a result, construction energy consumption is expected to rise.
The USD 1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which is expected to drive the put-in-place construction value for transport infrastructure at an average rate of 8.9%, is expected to support market growth in the United States. Bridges, trains, ports, water transport, telecommunications, broadband, electric vehicles, and energy are all expected to profit from this.
Since the beginning of 2021, the construction industry has recovered effectively, with COVID-19 cases down dramatically, allowing for the restoration of industrial activities. Low mortgage rates and robust demand for larger homes are expected to help the residential sector in the United States.
In the United States, jumbo-coated architectural glass is the most popular option. As a result, businesses are setting up gigantic coaters to meet the demand. Guardian Glass, for example, began producing super jumbo-coated glass with a dimension of 130" x 240" in 2021. Production has begun at the company's Carleton, Michigan headquarters.
Moreover, the solar industry's achievements forecast a rise in solar panel utilization, which could alter the need for coated glass in the future. Solar panel glass is critical because it functions as a barrier between the solar photovoltaic cells and the severe external forces. Solar panel glass with a coating is essential because it has a direct impact on the efficiency and output of solar photovoltaic systems. Low reflectivity, high transmittance, good rigidity, safety, and durability are all advantages of coated solar panel glass for increased solar system performance.
North america coated glass market restraints
Short-term issues for market players include a lack of competent workers and increased building material costs. The high production cost is hampering the expanding boom of the coated glass market, which is being pushed by the expansion of the building sector. Because coated glass is made from flat glass, the float line used to make flat glass has a considerable cost disadvantage.
The glass melting process consumes roughly 60–70% of the total energy utilized in the glass manufacturing process. These furnaces run on fossil fuels, electricity, or a combination of both. Although efforts are continuing to reduce energy consumption through research and development (R&D), it continues to account for a significant amount of the entire manufacturing process cost.
COVID-19's proliferation posed a serious threat to the economy and civilization. To slow the virus's spread, the governments imposed regulatory bans, which led to the suspension of production, the closing of all work environments, the limitation of public interactions, and the temporary suspension of worldwide manufacturing and trading activities. Coated glass market growth decreased as a result of the epidemic. To comply with government-mandated lockdowns, several manufacturing companies were forced to temporarily halt operations. As a result, vehicle production and construction-related activities came to a halt, and the market began to shrink.
North america coated glass market opportunities
Solar capacity has increased, and the growing popularity of floating solar farms is expected to boost solar panel demand even more. The demand for coated glass is expected to rise as a result of this. As the country's infrastructure has grown, so has the demand for coated glass. For example, the new terminal F at Philadelphia International Airport began building in September 2018. J.E. Berkowitz, an architectural glass fabricator, created 3,800 square feet of coated glass for the new project.
