Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

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.

India/Denmark: Rockwool International, the world's largest producer of rockwool-based insulation products has opened a new plant in Gujarat province in India. The facility's main task is to supply the India's rapidly growing industrial sector as well as some of India's neighbours with high-tech insulation products for technical installations such as heating pipes, boilers and tanks. The second priority, building insulation, is still at an early stage but the company wants to help India reduce the amount of energy it consumes via air conditioning units.

China: Asia can improve its energy-efficiency and cut carbon emissions by adopting proven energy-saving technologies, but this has to be supplemented with regulations and market-driven energy pricing to be effective, according to the vice-chairman of the German chemical giant BASF. Beijing's practice of setting energy prices below those in the free market mean some opportunities had been lost due to poor economic fundamentals, said Dr Martin Brudermueller.

"If you look at the low energy cost in China, and you take the top one million households in Chongqing and you say you will reduce the air-conditioning cost by 50%, you end up with only US$280 of savings per year per household. You could hardly invest this in building insulation because it simply doesn't pay off," he said.

BASF is working on several projects to provide insulation materials for Chinese buildings that help cut heating and air-conditioning demand. Brudermueller says up to 60% of energy consumption can be cut with retrofitting. In addition to insulation, energy can be saved by treating floors to make them reflect heat and pigments can be added to building materials to reflect infrared lights - even if the materials are black. He added that China's energy consumption per square metre of floor space is two to three times higher on average than that seen in the EU.