Your windows could soon clean themselves

Don’t do windows? Now there’s an eco-friendly way to not clean as often. A Denmark company has a new cleaning product called ShineOn that keeps windows free from dirt and grime for up to two years.

ShineOn is a thin coating developed using nanotechnology by SCF Technologies. The coating chemically bonds with glass to create a layer that uses the sun’s energy to “burn” loose dirt that gathers on the glass and loosen it from the surface. The dirt is then washed away from the window by rain.

The coating, which contains titanium dioxide, is applied in two stages with windows prepared with a special fluid to remove all possible contaminants. ShineOn is then polished onto the window with a cloth.

Though other dirt-burning coatings have been developed in the past, this is the first that can be applied to existing windows, making retrofits possible without replacing and trashing millions of panes of glass.

The product makes sense now for commercial use even though the initial application is expensive. The eventual savings are tremendous when you consider how much money is regularly spent on cleaning towers that are surfaced almost entirely in glass.

Environmental benefits will come from using less detergents. In a typical modern office building, windows are cleaned up to 100 times over two years.

Now if only someone will discover an energy-free way to fold laundry.

Full press release from SCF Technologies

Image via Swisscan on Flickr