Fighting climate change

Buildings and construction work have the largest single share in global resource use and emissions. In OECD countries, they are responsible for around 25 to 40% of total energy use. If we add to this the vast amount of energy consumed by industrial processes, it is clear that effective insulation systems have a major role to play in reducing energy waste and protecting the environment.

Insulating high-energy consuming systems and processes with effective technical insulation solutions is one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing heat loss and thus improving the efficiency with which we use our precious energy resources.

 

Saving energy : Innovative solutions for unprecedented challenges 


For more than 70 years, ISOVER has been drawing on the latest technology and techniques to deliver high levels of thermal efficiency in order to reduce energy loss with lightweight solutions that are quick and easy to install. The wide range of ISOVER glass wool, stone wool and ULTIMATE™ mineral wool solutions provide the flexibility to achieve optimum energy performance, even for high temperature equipment.

 

Energy-efficiency in action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions


Over its installed life (usually 50 years), a typical ISOVER glass wool product can save up to 300X the energy consumed and the C02 emitted during its production, transport and disposal. In most applications, the energy balance switches to positive only a few months after installation.

To take this commitment further, we are constantly optimising our production sites with the aim of reducing C02 emissions by 20% and energy consumption by 15% by 2025 versus 2010. To achieve this we’ve launched numerous initiatives, like introducing more recycled content in our furnaces to reduce the energy consumption and related C02 emissions – using 10% cullet reduces furnace energy consumption by 2.5%.

Through these different programmes, we reduced energy consumption per ton of glass wool by 6% and C02 emissions by 7% between 2010 and 2017.

 

Reducing emissions with greener logistics


We can also reduce our emissions by taking a fresh look at logistics. 
Our strategy is based on two key initiatives :
 
  1. Using the resilient properties of glass wool to compress products by up to 10X during packaging
  2. Using local manufacturing facilities to produce materials as close as possible to end users
 
All our products are packaged using specially developed technology to ensure maximum compression and minimum volume. This makes the products easier to handle and transport, and minimises the storage volume required in the warehouse, during transportation and on-site. 
 
By combining reduced transportation requirements with local manufacturing facilities, we can cut the number of road miles involved and the amount of transport-related CO2 emissions.
 
 

How much of a difference does compressing insulation into rolls make?


Example of Ultimate™ mats for marine installations

Using rolls of 24kg/m3 thick of 50mm instead of slabs gives you 75% more m2 per pallet and in the truck. The transport cost per m2 using rolls is therefore 42% lower. 
In terms of distribution, 42% less space is occupied and 1.7 times fewer operations are required for loading and carrying the pallet :

 
Compressed mats tab



Questions about our commitment to fighting climate change? More information about one of our insulation products? Don’t hesitate to get in touch.