This week in two trade publications there were articles on EC (electrochromic) glass. Pretty cool stuff. Basically it is glass with a special coating that when electrically charged can change to a tinted state on demand. Fancy.
Both articles went into detail about how this product could save energy, reject heat, reduce glare, enhance occupant comfort, etc. They talked about the importance of daylighting. They also analyzed the market size and compared regular glass, blinds and shades.
Now, our window tint can't change shades on demand but can offer many of the benefits of this glass when it comes almost every other feature. The article went on to cite numerous stats about the billion dollar industry this will grow to.
Not one time in either article did it mention anything about window tinting. I get that the article was about glass but how is it that in the all the research for these articles they never came across tint for windows as an alternative option at a fraction of the price.
After yelling at the pages I finally figured it out why we get so disrespected. It’s because we’re not fancy. Our product doesn't have an “app”. We don't have hundreds of millions of investment dollars pouring into our industry. If we had the same marketing dollars to educate building owners and they actually knew what window tint could do, it would be a level playing field.
But that's fine. They made the argument for me. And in reality they aren't really even competition for us. Our retrofit market is different than the new construction market. They are not going to replace all the glass in all the inefficient existing buildings across the country. And as energy efficiency standards grow, we will become a more viable option.
So I see you EC glass industry. Keep coming. Keep advertising. Keep disrespecting. You're making my sale on energy efficiency easier!
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