Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Knauf Insulation has secured US$3.28m in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and verify Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for insulation. Knauf Insulation will produce the EPDs based on comprehensive Life Cycle Assessments of its products.

Knauf North America director of sustainability Gabriela Fleury said "Transparency is embedded in our core values and a key component of our business conduct. It is imperative that our product documentation provides accurate, reliable and updated information to our stakeholders. This grant will leverage the development and improvement of EPDs, which not only allows clients to make informed decisions about lower embodied carbon products, but also indicate areas of improvement to lower greenhouse gas emissions throughout our operations. This grant represents a significant sustainability leap for all of our stakeholders. It enables us to enhance our EPD portfolio, meeting increasing market demands for product transparency."

UK: The government has announced funding of up to Euro1.7bn to retrofit 130,000 social and low income homes in England with energy efficiency measures including insulation. It says that the upgrades will help households save around Euro450 - 800/yr on their energy bills at current prices and funding could support around 19,000 green energy sector jobs. The money will be made available via the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Home Upgrade Grant schemes.

Local authorities and social housing providers will be able to submit bids for funding and will deliver upgrades from early 2023 until March 2025, building on the more than 30,000 homes already being upgraded under the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Home Upgrade Grant schemes.

US: ADFORS Americas, a Saint-Gobain subsidiary, plans to invest US$28m in expanding its Dublin, Georgia, glass wool products plant. Dow Jones Institutional Newswires has reported that the facility serves Saint-Gobain’s glass wool insulation production. Once completed in 2024, the expansion will create 400 new local roles in serving the plant’s operations.

The Georgia state government has contributed US$12m in tax credits towards the project’s funding.

Hungary: Bodrogi Bau is upgrading its polystyrene insulation plant in Szeged. It is spending Euro3m on building two new production lines, according to the MTI-Eco news agency. One of the new lines will be used to manufacture polystyrene insulation blocks. The project is supported by a Euro1.5m grant from the European Union (EU) and the local government. The company runs businesses in construction, building material retail, planning and real estate.

Hungary: Building materials producer Masterplast has been awarded a Euro0.8m grant from the government for its foam insulation plant at Kal. The grant will be used as part of a Euro1.6m upgrade at the site, according to the MTI-Eco news agency.