Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Owens Corning was named among the Top 10 companies on the Best Corporate Citizen list 2023. The list ranks all companies on the Russell 1000 Index by transparency and performance across 184 environmental, social and governance factors. The result represents Owens Corning’s sixth consecutive year as a Top 10 company.

Senior vice president and chief sustainability officer David Rabuano said “This achievement is particularly meaningful as it reinforces the importance of our work and how we do it. This directly speaks to the commitment of our 19,000 employees in support of our mission to build a sustainable future through material innovation.”

North America: Kingspan Insulated Panels North America has launched its online Sustainability Resource Center. The platform offers educational content pertaining to sustainable construction practices by topic, type or role. It can be accessed via Kingspan's Planet Passionate portal.

Director of Sustainability Brent Trenga said "Kingspan's Sustainability Resource Center is a one-stop shop where industry professionals can expand their knowledge on the environmental impacts from the built environment. This is a resource that can be bookmarked and referenced at any given time. We want to make it easy for architects, contractors and building owners to arm themselves with information that will help them make sustainable choices in building material."

Spain: Knauf Insulation has called on Spain, as the current president of the Council of the European Union, to further decarbonise building stock in the region.

Oscar Del Rio, the general manager of Knauf Insulation Iberia, said “The outcome of domestic politics may still be uncertain at the moment, but on the international stage, Spain holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union until the end of December 2023 and its focus must be crystal clear. Europe needs to seize the opportunity of the recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) to ensure an approach that will decarbonise its building stock by increasing renovation rates and committing to quality retrofit standards that deliver real performance.”

The insulation producer cited research by the Building Performance Institute (BPIE), which it supported, that found that insulating all Europe’s residential buildings would cut energy demand for space heating by 44%, compared to 2020, making a ‘significant’ contribution to energy security and the EU’s 2050 climate goals. The company has also urged policy makers to introduce ‘one-stop shops’ for renovation to enable building owners to make retrofitting easier and to use digital tools to make it easier for people to view potential performance savings.

The company used Spain as an example of a country that needs a more ambitious renovation strategy. It noted that, according to Spain’s Energy Renovation of the Building Sector strategy, 9.7 million homes or 50% of residential buildings were built before 1980 and an additional one million are described as in a poor or dilapidated condition. In addition, 81% of existing buildings are in the E, F or G emissions categories and 84.5% are in these categories for energy consumption. It quoted research by Renovate Europe that found that the renovation rate of buildings in Spain was eight to 10 times lower than the average for neighbouring countries.

North America: Saint-Gobain has signed a 100MW solar power purchase agreement (PPA), called Danish Fields, with TotalEnergies. The Danish Fields PPA will supply Saint-Gobain North America with solar energy for 15 years, commencing in 2024. Saint-Gobain says that it expects the PPA to eliminate 90,000t/yr of CO₂ emissions across its operations. This is the group’s third deal of its kind.

Saint-Gobain North America CEO Mark Rayfield said “With this agreement, Saint-Gobain North America will further reduce its CO₂ emissions, demonstrating how fast the manufacturing industry can transform when long term solutions are at hand. This renewable energy project is a new milestone on the way to meeting Saint-Gobain’s commitment to reduce Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions by 33% by 2030 compared to 2017, and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.”

Europe: US-based Owens Corning has joined the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE). The producer said that its membership in the alliance will help in its drive for best practices in material innovation and energy efficiency in Europe.

Owens Corning’s Europe regional regulatory and sustainability senior counsel said “Owens Corning is honoured to join the EU-ASE. This is an exciting opportunity to strengthen our partnerships with key stakeholders and continue to build a sustainable future through material innovation. We are committed to the European Green Deal objectives and will continue to share best practices and knowledge across industries on key sustainability topics, such as energy efficiency, sustainability and digitalisation, while contributing to the green transition in Europe.”

Germany: Grenzebach says that it has completed the construction of the Hütten wood fibre insulation plant in Bavaria's Neustadt an der Waldnaab District for Ziegler Group subsidiary Naturheld. The plant took a total of 12 months to build, and will run on 100% renewable energy. Naturheld will use waste wood from Ziegler Group's wood processing operations in the region. Grenzebach says that it developed a novel wood blending system for implementation at the plant. The supplier said that the plant has a wood fibre production capacity of 6t/hr, and is capable of expanding to 10t/hr. The plant gives Ziegler Group the capacity to produce 1.5Mm²/yr of its wood fibre insulation product.

Managing director Stefan Ziegler said "Building the wood fiber insulation board plant within such an extremely short period was possible only thanks to the close cooperation with a renowned automation partner of international standing like Grenzebach. As a solution provider, Grenzebach supplied both the necessary product and technical know-how and expertise and was able to make the required capacities available at all times."

US: Owens Corning has published its 2022 Sustainability Report, detailing its progress towards its 2030 sustainability goals during 2022. During the year, the insulation producer reduced its CO₂ emissions by 22% compared with 2018 levels, against a 2030 reduction target of 50%. It sourced 56% of its electricity renewably. It achieved this with the help of multiple power purchase agreements (PPA), including for on-site generation. It concluded a new 81.9MW virtual PPA in Spain, which will come online in stages throughout the rest of 2023 and 2024.

Senior vice president and chief sustainability officer David Rabuano said "In 2023 and beyond, sustainability will remain at the heart of our business and a critical value creator for Owens Corning, our customers and other stakeholders. As we shift into the next chapter of our sustainability strategy, we will build on the foundational efforts that have been central to sustainability within our organisation - and with the engagement of our 19,000 employees worldwide, we will take the action needed to reach the next level."

Ireland: Kingspan's CO₂ emissions fell by 26% over the two years between 2020 and 2022. The group aims to achieve a 90% reduction in CO₂ emissions between 2020 and 2030. The Irish Times newspaper has reported that the company adopted a Euro70/t internal pricing mechanism in January 2023. Over the past three years, it increased its renewable energy share to 33% from 20%, increased its rainwater harvesting capacity by 26% and reduced its volume of waste sent to landfill by 42%.

Kingspan head of sustainability Bianca Wong said "It’s a testament to the enduring efforts of our colleagues that we completed over 100 projects in 2022. We will continue to build on our progress to date and aim to further accelerate our strategies in the coming years."

US: Hempitecture has inaugurated a hemp-based insulation plant in Jerome County, Idaho. The plant employs five people and produces insulation using hemp grown in Montana. The producer hopes to supply its flagship HempWool thermal insulation and other acoustic and continuous insulation products to major green building materials markets, including Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It began developing hemp-based insulation in partnership with the University of Idaho with a US$207,000 grant from the Idaho state government in 2021.

Hempitecture CEO Mattie Mead said "We are ushering in the future of truly sustainable building materials."

UK: The Peatland Progress bog restoration project in Cambridgeshire will plant and harvest bulrushes for use as a raw material in alternative insulation production. The Evening Standard newspaper has reported that trials have successfully produced insulation from bulrushes in Germany and the Netherlands. Peatland Progress holds Euro9.08m in National Lottery funding. The project will rewet peat and restore wetland habitats over 120 hectares of the historic Fens.