Float glass major Asahi India Glass Ltd (AIS) has launched a new range of high performance glasses under the Ecosense brand. The new collection has been christened Ecosense Excel.

Informing about the motivation behind the launch of the new range, Vikram Khanna, COO–architectural institutional business and CMO at AIS, said, “Amid an increasing demand for high performance glass to enhance a green building’s aura and efficiencies, AIS is continuously innovating to transform the living and work places of consumers. Our eco-friendly offerings under the umbrella of Ecosense are aligned to the green revolution. Enabled by technological upgradations in glass processing technology, AIS is innovating new single-glazed and double-glazed products with the best green parameters.”

According to Khanna, Ecosense Excel is a specialised green building glass with advanced solar control and low-E properties. “This glass product comes with excellent thermal insulation and best-in-class solar control performance. Excel (double low-E glass) can be used in a number of applications, like structural glazing, facade glazing, bolted systems, curtain walling and fenestration applications, insulated glazing units, laminated double glazed units, laminated, heat treated and bent glazing units.” He confirms that the two series in which Ecosense Excel is available are Pearl and Sparkle. The shades available are clear, blue, and green.

Ecosense has been developed to suit the unique climatic conditions of the Indian subcontinent, as it meets the needs of consumers who require more cooling than heating, and want to prevent solar radiation from coming in. Khanna indicates that optimally medium to low U-value, rather than very low U-value, and optimum light is what Indian consumers want.

According to Khanna, the demand for smart glasses like the Ecosense has seen a steady increase in India. “The demand has been increasing for two reasons – modern lifestyle requirements of comfort, convenience, privacy, and energy efficiency; and being a differentiated product in the highly competitive glass industry. As such, investment worth hundreds of millions of dollars has been made in smart glass technology over the past few years.”

Despite slowdown in construction the glass industry in India is expected to grow at a good pace in coming years, as the positive economic scenario is likely to boost growth in the automotive and construction sectors. Khanna says that demand drivers for the glass industry are India’s varied climatic conditions which drive demand for insulated and reflective glasses; Smart Cities and ‘Housing for all by 2022’ projects by the Government of India; rising demand for LEED certified and energy-efficient buildings on the back of environmental concerns; and stabilisation of prices of real estate and strong macro-economic scenario that would enhance sale of real estate properties.