Self-cleaning windows.

• Position: What's New? - From Pilkington - Brief Article

* Every neighborhood has at least one. Don't you just hate those clean freaks who mow and edge their lawn twice a week; put out the trash in pristine garbage cans; begin shoveling snow before it even stops falling; and sweep their walk and driveway daily, but, most annoyingly of all, remove and clean every single window in the house with each change of season? Well, we've managed to even the score on one count at least. Even though we never lift a finger, our windows are the cleanest in town. Impossible you say? Well, this is 2002; technology is marching inexorably forward; and we now have Pilkington Activ self-cleaning glass, which uses sun and rain literally to clean itself. The microscopically thin composition that provides the self-cleaning properties is applied to a surface of the base glass while it is in its molten state. Thus, the composition becomes an integral and permanent part of the surface--rather than having to be applied as a coating after the glass is produced.

First, there's the photocatalytic effect, whereby the glass uses the sun's UV rays to break down organic dirt, gradually and...