Dow Corning to double number of silicones available on online 'XIAMETER'

30 Jun '09

10 min read

'Experts predict the world population will rise to 7 billion within the next three years. A very sizeable part of that growth will happen in cities as more people move away from villages and rural areas. Many Indian cities are already experiencing the challenges that arise from over population. This is something that's been happening over many decades – but it will speed up in the future and lead to an even greater prevalence of mega cities in India, and around the world. Dow Corning firmly intends to deploy our expertise and our technologies to address those needs.

“Our focus on innovation goes hand-in-hand with the third element that will drive our future business – sustainability. For us, sustainability is not a bolt-on activity but a way of doing business. That's why we have made it one of our corporate values. We also see it as a business opportunity, a way in which we can become a supplier of choice and a business partner of choice by meeting the needs of both our customers and the needs of governments.

“For our customers, the need to develop green products is becoming a more significant business driver. In a survey we conducted with Harris International, 65 percent of Indian business leaders said that developing green – or environmentally sustainable products – was one of their top three priorities. Let me give you some examples of how we at Dow Corning are responding to these needs.

“No area of sustainability and innovation has captured our company's attention more than solar power. Nearly nine years ago we recognized that alternative energies such as solar would be important for the future of Dow Corning. Today, solar represents a 19 billion dollar market, up from just 8 billion only two years ago. And India has the potential to be a part of this market – a recent issue of the New York Times reported that as per the National Solar Mission strategy India plans to add 20,000 megawatts of Solar Power Generation Capacity by 2020.

“By the middle of this century, that figure is expected to increase by another 200,000 megawatts. Dow Corning is investing to expand our portfolio of materials and solutions for the solar industry. Today, our silicon-based materials are used in solar cell manufacturing, solar module assembly and installation. All our efforts here are designed to help this industry move towards being economically competitive with conventional energy sources, and become a sustainable energy option globally. We have a mission to provide solutions along the entire solar value chain.

“For example we are significantly expanding polycrystalline silicon capacities. Already the world's largest supplier of silicon metal to the solar and electronics industries—we will expand capacity by 90 percent within the next 4 years. And last month, we announced we would create a solar solutions application center in Korea, to serve the fast-growing Asia market. We are extremely active outside of solaras well.

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