Europe's flat glass industry in a competitive low ... - Glass for Europe

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Investing in state-of-the-art production capacity to meet Europe’s demand 26
The manufacturing of flat glass in Europe is the only sustainable route towards a true low carbon economy 1. To ensure that Europe’s glass market is principally supplied by European manufacturers Until very recently, the European Union has been the world’s largest producer of flat glass. This position is now held by China primarily because it alone accounts for over 50% of the world’s flat glass demand due to the local boom in the construction and automotive sectors. In 2011, there were 61 float glass lines in the European Union whose theoretical melt capacity reached nearly 15 million tonnes of float glass per year. These facilities are located throughout Europe, close to both sources of raw materials and markets to minimize transport at both ends. In addition to these EU based facilities, six other float glass lines exist in Turkey. To Glass for Europe members, the manufacturing of flat glass in Europe is the only sustainable route towards a true low carbon economy. Since float glass is a relatively heavy material to transport, importing glass from outside Europe inherently means importing glass with a higher CO2 footprint. In addition, larger shares of imported glass would mean that Europe’s transition towards a low carbon economy would mostly profit other regions of the world instead of supporting Europe’s industrial base. It must nevertheless be noted that the flat glass industry needs to specialize its plants in certain types of products. This is due to the slowmoving nature of the production process itself which can imply two or three days of production and energy losses when colours or thickness of the produced glass is changed. For this reason, importing very specific glass products will always be required and supplied glass may not necessarily always come from the nearby factory. As of August 2010 NSG (12) Guardian (8) Saint-Gobain (17) AGC (13) Sisecam (7) Sangalli (1) NSG/Saint-Gobain (1) Euroglass (4) AGC/Scheuten (1) Interpane (1) Interpane /Scheuten (1) GES (1) The flat glass industry is deeply committed to remaining a positive contributor to global efforts to reduce overall energy consumption and CO 2 emissions from human economic activity. For these reasons and whenever possible, Glass for Europe member companies will prioritize the supply of glass products made in Europe to serve the EU markets. Certainty and confidence is needed for flat glass manufacturers to plan investments. Once the long term vision of a low carbon economy is backed by robust policy measures that both support decarbonisation of the building, automotive and power sectors and step up flat glass demand, flat glass manufacturers will increase European production capacities to provide added-value and jobs to the European economy. 27
Page 1 and 2: Europe’s flat glass industry in a
Page 3 and 4: Foreword by the Secretary General
Page 5 and 6: Table of Contents The flat glass in
Page 7 and 8: The flat glass industry supports th
Page 9 and 10: Glass technologies are constantly b
Page 11 and 12: Glass for Europe and its member com
Page 13 and 14: Our industry is proud that glass pr
Page 15 and 16: 2. To guarantee that our products m
Page 17 and 18: A Supportive European Policy Framew
Page 19 and 20: For Europe’s flat glass industry,
Page 21 and 22: 2. To recycle and contribute to a r
Page 23 and 24: Glazed surfaces and energy consumpt
Page 25: A Supportive European Policy Framew
Page 29 and 30: The dynamics of investments in flat
Page 31 and 32: A Supportive European Policy Framew

Europe's flat glass industry in a competitive low ... - Glass for Europe

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