Insights & Reports

The European window and door eco-system represented joined forces to call on National Governments to put Window replacement at the core of national Resilience and Recovery Plans.

The flat glass sector is indispensable to the massive decarbonisation of the building, transport and energy sectors, which represent the lion’s share of Europe’s CO2 emissions. Flat glass manufacturing is also an energy-intensive activity. The sector takes it as its duty to reduce its own CO2 emissions, which represents a significant challenge in moving towards carbon neutrality. In today’s climate urgency context, the flat glass sector wants to offer its vision of a rapidly actionable virtuous decarbonisation cycle.

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The brochure illustrates the main findings of a scientific study by TNO on the quantification of both energy and CO2 savings that can be realised for heating and cooling of buildings thanks to high-performance glazing across the 28 EU Member States in both horizons 2030 and 2050. In addition to full potentials, it also simulates the impacts of several window replacement rates, all compared to a baseline scenario.

Download the infographic.
Visit the dedicated webpage and find more data.
Read the press release.
To receive the full study write to info@glassforeurope.com

The purpose of this brochure is to inform all stakeholders working on energy performance in buildings about the new EU legislative framework and how its robust implementation across European countries could help tap into the massive energy savings potential of advanced glazing.

The study developed a comprehensive list of minimum performance requirements (U-values and when appropriate g-values) for windows replacement in the residential sector in the 28 EU Member States. The main result is a table showing an overview about legal requirements for replacement of windows in residential buildings by Member State. This table is followed by brief explanations allowing an unambiguous interpretation of the numbers in the table. A table informing about the interviewed person and the national regulation follows these explanations.

Glass for Europe has commissioned Deloitte Sustainability to carry out the present study with two objectives: 1. Quantify the available quantities of building glass waste (windows, glazing and other flat glass products) from construction, demolition and building renovation in the EU-28 (Phase I); 2. Compare the economic costs and benefits as well as the environmental impacts of three recycling scenarios for C&D glass waste.

Regulation (EU) 305/2011, more commonly referred to as the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), replaces the 1989 Construction Products Directive (CPD). This new piece of legislation sets out the rules governing when and under which conditions, the CE marking must accompany construction products placed on the EU market. The purpose of this guide is to explain the main changes between the ‘old’ Construction Products Directive and the ‘new’ Construction Products Regulation.

Over the last fifty years glass technologies for buildings have undergone radical changes and extended the functions and applications of glazing in modern architecture. Thanks to the continuous improvement in thermal insulation performance, combined with new methods of modulating solar heat and light transmission, glazing has strengthened its position as an essential construction material for low energy buildings.

Flat glass is an integral part of most automotive vehicles and is essential to Europe’s transport industry. Flat glass is used to make windscreens, backlights, windows and sun roofs for a wide range of automobile and transport applications, from cars to cruise ships and buses. Europe’s glazing manufacturers are constantly striving to deliver products that provide the best possible technological solutions to meet automobile manufacturers’ and end-users’ needs from a comfort, safety and security perspective, whilst at the same time helping the industry to meet its climate commitments.

The following report was set-up in the context of a study developing an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for windows / transparent components commissioned by ift Rosenheim. It provides a summary of the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) of one kilogram of float glass as a final product. All other parts of the window (e.g. window frame) or further processing of the float glass (e.g. coating) remain excluded from this overview.

We spend over 80% of our lives within buildings and numerous research studies have demonstrated that glazing has profound implications in terms of human health, happiness and productivity, including: quality of life, happiness and a sense of wellbeing; health (and healing); ability to learn in educational establishments; productivity whilst at work; profitability and shopper-footfall in retail buildings.