Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: Land Rover is test-driving a special type of wallboard in an attempt to improve its sustainability. "We are testing phase-change wallboard at our dealer training centre. It moves from solid to liquid and absorbs and releases heat," said Fran Leedham, head of sustainability at Jaguar Land Rover.

UK: The Hub, a building in Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham, has been granted the highest environmental standards rating due to its high levels of insulation and other elements of its design. The building, built on behalf of Teesdale Community Resources was awarded an 'excellent' rating with outstanding credits by the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).

As well as extensive cavity wall insulation, the Hub features a whole host of other sustainable features, including a biomass boiler and an on-site water treatment bio-digester/reed bed, which eliminates the need for external waste connections. It also has a grass roof and a curved glass section to maximise the amount of natural daylight that reaches its concourse.

South Korea: Over 85% of educational facilities in the regions of Seoul have been observed to contain asbestos-containing insulation materials. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has been informed that 1669 kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools in the city have asbestos traits with a contamination of 24.7% of the total surface area.

The high schools had the highest level of contamination, around 90% of facilities built with asbestos-containing materials, whereas the 86% of elementary schools and 84% of middle schools were reported to have asbestos. In every case the asbestos was in found in the ceilings of the schools.

Besides these buildings, some open areas have also been reported to have some presence of microscopic asbestos fibres. Inhaling even small amounts of asbestos can cause damage to the lungs and can leads the development of pleural mesothelioma, which affects the lining of the lungs and can lead to death.

US: The global headquarters of Owens Corning in Toledo, Ohio, has become the third existing building in Ohio to earn the prestigious gold certification under the US Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Existing Building (EB) programme.

To achieve the award, the building's design and operation has met stringent standards as an energy-efficient, environmentally responsible and healthy place to live and work. The building was first recognised for silver certification under the LEED-EB program in 2007.

The LEED certification of an existing building is a significant achievement because it is generally easier to design these features in new construction. The Owens Corning global headquarters building has already earned an Energy Star rating, which ranks it among the top 25% of energy-efficient buildings in the United States.

"The gold-certified LEED-EB status of our global headquarters building in Ohio is an iconic representation of Owens Corning's deep commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency," said Chief Sustainability Officer Frank O'Brien-Bernini. "It's also an example of the operating cost advantages that are achievable through sustainable building practices. There are significant economic and environmental benefits to ensuring that new and existing buildings exceed today's energy efficiency standards through the use of insulation, air-sealing solutions and many other energy-saving technologies."

Ukraine: Ukrainian producers of thermal insulation made from mineral fibres are looking increasingly at potential sales markets outside the country, because demand there is just 20-30% of that in central and western European countries and the country has significant overcapacity.

Since 2008, additional plants with total mineral wool capacity of 170,000-175,000t/yr have gone online in the country but the domestic market has been unable to absorb the material. According to a provisional assessment, 78,500t of mineral wool based on basalt fibres and 24,000t of glass wool were sold in the Ukraine in 2010.

Insulation imports fell from 115,000t in 2008 to 50,400t in 2009, but are thought to have risen slightly to around 55,000t in 2010.