Electrochromatic glass improves sales, study shows

Last fall the airport put a new type of “smart glass” called View Dynamic Glass that adjusts for sunlight exposure at one of its gates. Airport management then surveyed passenger satisfaction and restaurant sales along the terminal real estate affected by the glass. The results were notable: Removing heat and glare caused people to linger longer and spend more. Alcohol sales soared 80 percent in October after the electrochromatic glass was installed, compared with the same period in 2016. Alcohol contributed 17 percent of the restaurant’s total revenue in October 2017, compared with 9 percent the previous month and 8 percent in October 2016. 

“We definitely see the impact,” Casey Norton, a DFW Airport spokesman, told Bloomberg. He said the restaurant had approached the airport about its lagging sales, he said, and “they hypothesized that it was too damn hot” for customers to stick around. 

Smart glass also helps lower heating and cooling costs by as much as 20 percent. The expected energy savings over a building’s life make balance out installation costs that are 20 percent to 30 percent higher than traditional glass, according to Bloomberg.