Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: Graffiti reading 'Grenfell' has appeared on walls and gates at the entrance to Ulster Rugby's Kingspan Stadium in Belfast in protest against Kingpan's indirect involvement in the Grenfell Tower fire in London on the night of 13 - 14 June 2017. Some insulation produced by Kingspan was present in the building envelope of the tower at that time.

The Belfast Telegraph newspaper has reported that local groups Act Now and Uplift in the Republic, in partnership with Britain-based 38 Degrees, previously erected a billboard in view of the Kingspan Stadium, expressing solidarity with victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster, in March 2022.

South Korea: KCC started commercial production on an upgraded glass wool line at its Munmak plant in December 2022. It held a ceremony attended by chair Chung Mong-jin to mark the event. The new production line has a production capacity of 35,000t/yr and has increased the plant’s total glass wool capacity to 100,000t/yr across three lines.

The Munmak plant was originally commissioned in 1997. It then added a second production line in 2002 and a third in 2003. Overall KCC has a total glass wool production capacity of 130,00t/yr, including its Gimcheon plant. A new production line is also being built at Gimcheon. Once completed in the second half of 2023 the company’s total capacity will reach 180,000t/yr.

Türkiye: The Turkish government has introduced new rules on the minimum thickness of insulation used in urban construction. Buildings in Ankara must be fitted with 9cm-thick insulation, compared to 6cm previously, while those in Istanbul must be fitted with 8cm-thick insulation, compared to 5cm previously. Suar Energy News has reported that this accompanies new government regulations that require all new builds to source at least 5% of their electricity renewably, as part of a drive for Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEB).

US: Saint-Gobain North America has started a program where windshield glass scraps are recycled and reused in the production of insulation. Waste glass from the company’s Saint-Gobain Sekurit’s unit at Garden Grove in California is sent to CertainTeed Insulation’s facility at Chowchilla, where it is use to make fibreglass insulation. Saint-Gobain is working with Shark Solutions on the project. The initiative started earlier in 2022.

US: Owens Corning has achieved inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index 2022, topping the Building Materials category. The producer scored 88 out of 100 for sustainable performance across multiple indices. It recorded full marks for environmental reporting, materiality, recycling strategy, risk and crisis management and social reporting.

Owens Corning's senior vice president and chief sustainability officer David Rabuano said, "Earning placement on this index for the 13th consecutive year is a validation of the daily efforts of our colleagues across our operations globally. I am proud that their hard work and diligence in our sustainability efforts continues to be the driver of our leadership on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index - and an ongoing contributor to achieving our goals for 2030 and beyond."