The materiality of transparency: An environmental analysis of the architectural flat glass industry since 1945 in Europe, France and Belgium

In our built environment, flat glass is an indispensable material. Its production requires the mining of raw materials and the use of fossil fuels and results in the emission of pollutants including CO2. In Western European countries, these emissions have been the target of a series of energy efficiency measures and emission reduction policies since 1945. Beginning with that year, this article studies the material history of the flat glass industry in Belgium, France and the EU and analyses the evolution of the flows of materials, energy and CO2 related to the manufacturing process. Based on a... Mehr ...