Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

New Zealand: Import tariffs on a range of building materials have been suspended in a move that is estimated to reduce the cost of a new home by US$3500. The suspension was announced in the May budget and comes into effect on 1 July 2014.

"The building materials covered by the tariff suspension comprise about 90% of the cost of the material in an average new house," said housing minister Nick Smith. He added that the tariffs would be suspended for five years. "It includes materials such as roofing, cladding, framing, windows, doors, insulation, plumbing and electrical components."

The government has already removed anti-dumping duties for building materials as part of its strategy to bring down the cost of new homes. "There is no single magical solution. It is about making a whole lot of changes that aggregate together to make homes more affordable," said Smith.

US: Following earlier action by the EU, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to publish guidelines on safer alternatives to the flame retardants that are currently used in consumer and commercial products, including building insulation and products with flexible polyurethane foam.

Flame retardant chemicals such as hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and pentabromodiphenyl ether (pentaBDE) raise concerns for human health and the environment, including potential reproductive, developmental and neurological effects that can be persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic to aquatic organisms.

The EPA has identified butadiene styrene brominated copolymer as a safer alternative to HBCD used in polystyrene building insulation. The substitute is currently in commercial production in the US. Additionally, oligomeric phosphonate polyol has been proposed as a safer alternative to pentaBDE.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is due to decide on 9 July 2014 whether exemptions can be granted to manufacturers of expanded polystyrene (EPS) to continue using HBCD as a flame retardant beyond the August 2015 phase-out deadline. Most international players are switching to the new non-halogen flame polymeric retardant PolyFR.

UK: Owens Corning, which operates an insulation plant in Selkirk, Scotland, plans to begin using a nearby warehouse within the next three months. The company is consolidating three smaller warehouses within 30km radius of the Selkirk insulation plant into the new West Yard Road warehouse, which will be operated by a third-party logistics company. The warehouse will employ about 20 people.

"It will simplify logistics and result in stronger service for our customers," said Chuck Hartlage, Owens Corning's spokesperson. "We will do this with an improved cost structure."

US: Owens Corning has lowered its full-year 2014 earnings outlook because of continued weakness in its roofing business. In its first quarter 2014 earnings release, the company stated that it expected US$500m in adjusted earnings before income tax for the whole of 2014, but added that weakness in the roofing business added risk to the financial outlook.

The weakness continued through April - May 2014 and the company now estimates that roofing volumes for the first half of 2014 may be 20% lower than during the first half of 2013. Owens Corning expects to recover a portion of the shortfall during the second half of 2014 and has projected that full-year 2014 adjusted earnings before income tax will be greater than 2013's US$416m.

According to Owens Corning, the insulation and composites market continues to show improvement compared with 2013. Earnings growth in those two areas is expected to more than offset the poor roofing performance.

Insulation sales increased from US$330m in the first quarter of 2013 to US$355m in 2014. The company's first quarter 2014 results reported insulation sales grew by almost 8% compared with 2013, following 11 consecutive quarters of improved earnings in the insulation business.

UK: More than Euro3.25m was issued to households through the new Green Deal Home Improvement Fund during the scheme's first week, which ran from 9 June 2014 to 15 June 2014, according to industry estimates. Some 1736 applications were made for the fund, which offers households in England and Wales up to Euro9494 cash back for making energy-efficient home improvements.

"We've changed the Green Deal to make it simpler and faster for people to make their homes more energy efficient," said Energy and Climate Change secretary Ed Davey. "Under the new incentive scheme domestic energy customers can get up to Euro1249 for installing two measures from an approved list and / or up to Euro7495 for installing solid wall insulation, in addition to up to Euro125 refunded for their Green Deal Assessment."

The scheme also entitles those who have bought a property in the 12 months prior to application to qualify for up to an additional Euro625 if they carry out energy-efficiency improvements.