Sustainable Insulation

Sustainable insulation

Sustainable insulation with ISOVER

As the world’s population continues to grow and natural resources become more scarce, global warming is becoming a daily reality and unprecedented challenge. 

Buildings and construction work have the largest single share in carbon emissions. In OECD countries, they are responsible for around 25 to 40% of the world energy consumption. 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.

Making constructions more sustainable requires us to examine every aspect from sourcing to components and performance. Sustainable building materials, such as sustainable insulation, are contributing to reduce energy use and therefore carbon emissions, while also causing minimum impact to the environment (ideally zero) during their manufacture and entire lifecycle.

Innovating for sustainable building materials

As a world leader in sustainable insulation solutions, we combine in-depth market knowledge with cutting-edge research and development to create sustainable building materials to optimise performances, meeting current and future needs in terms of :
 

  • Comfort

  • Technical and environmental performance

  • Health & safety

  • Cost


Our range of technical solutions demonstrate that it is possible to provide high levels of safety, comfort and noise/thermal performance with low environmental impacts. They also provide fast payback in terms of energy consumption and thus costs.

This ambition is reflected in the array of initiatives we implemented in recent years, from increasing recycling in our insulation materials to limiting our products travel and minimising emissions from Volatile Organic Compounds.

ISOVER’s aim is to be recognized by all customers as the innovative worldwide leader in sustainable insulation solutions. Sustainability is embedded in our innovation policy that incorporates the 3 pillars of eco-innovation defined by Saint-Gobain.

Energy-efficiency

Over its installed life (usually 50 years), a typical ISOVER glass wool product can save up to 300X the energy consumed and the carbon 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 carbon emissions by 20% and energy consumption by 15% between 2010 and 2025. To achieve this we’ve launched numerous initiatives, like introducing more recycled materials in our furnaces to reduce the energy consumption and related greenhouse gas emissions – using 10% cullet reduces furnace energy consumption by 2.5%.

Through these different programs, we reduced energy consumption per ton of glass wool by 6% and CO2 emissions by 7% between 2010 and 2017.

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.

Contact one of our local representatives

Our businesses are represented worldwide covering local products, services and other information.

Guaranteeing environmental transparency

We understand it’s important to know just how environmentally friendly our solutions are. That this is an essential criterion for selecting suppliers, whether for insulation or other building materials. This is why we choose to disclose detailed information about the environmental impact of all our products as transparently as possible using Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).

What are EPDs?

EPDs are standardised documents based on Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), which reveal the environmental impacts of a product throughout its lifecycle. It is currently the only science-based methodology that allows objective comparison and optimisation at a product and building level.

Did you know...? 

ISOVER was the first glass-wool manufacturer in the world to carry out LCAs in the early 1990s. Today, we have more than 600 verified EPDs available worldwide. These documents are checked by an independent third party to ensure the information is reliable and qualitative.

Upholding the values of the Saint-Gobain group

To help keeping global temperature increase within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, Saint-Gobain has committed to become net “zero carbon company” by 2050. The Group is already making a significant contribution to improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions on its construction, mobility and industry markets. With this new commitment, Saint-Gobain goes one step further towards sustainability. This 2050 vision is critical to drive Saint-Gobain’s medium and long-term strategy.

Furthermore, Saint-Gobain is part of several worldwide environmental initiatives :

 

United Nations Global Compact : 

A framework for businesses committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. 
 

Global 100 : 

Saint-Gobain is included in the Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world. 
 

Saint-Gobain Initiatives Foundation : 

The Saint-Gobain Initiatives international corporate foundation supports employee projects focusing on:
 

  • Integrating young people through work in the housing sector

  • Constructing, refurbishing and renovating social housing

  • Reducing energy consumption and environmental protection in social housing
     

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) : 

As part of the Carbon Disclosure Project, Saint-Gobain provides annual reports on the company’s CO2 emissions and climate strategy