AT KNAUF INSULATION, WE’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT HELPING OUR CUSTOMERS ACHIEVE A GREENER FUTURE.
We do this by operating transparently, having our environmental performance verified by independent third parties, and providing all the necessary records for sustainable building impact calculations.
AT KNAUF INSULATION, WE ARE COMMITTED TO MEASURING AND REDUCING THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF OUR PRODUCTS, AS WELL AS REPORTING THESE IMPACTS IN A TRANSPARENT WAY.
Our EPDs (Environmental Product Declaration) provide customers with objective and independent information about their products.
In assessing our sustainability, we examine every stage of a product’s life cycle in-depth, from cradle to grave, through LCA (Life Cycle Assessment). This information is then processed and published as an EPD.
We’re pioneers in product sustainability. We have dramatically cut the time needed to create an EPD through an innovative data collection system and third-party pre-verification. Creating an EPD involves highly intensive and wide-ranging data collection, hundreds of calculations, and rigorous verification – which used to take up to 6 months. Our new innovative process has reduced the time it takes to process and publish an EPD to as little as 3 weeks. We are leading the industry in providing such precise information in our EPDs.
We continually update our list of EPDs, which is a collation of EPDs published on the various program operators listed below. We believe each EPD should give the right information for every product listed on the EPD.
Our EPDs are published using in general a unit of 1 m2, with their thermal resistance value and their dedicated specific thickness. While this enables our EPDs to be more precise, they can be also adjusted to needed thickness values.
If you cannot find the EPD you are looking for, please contact [email protected]
ECO PLATFORM (INTERNATIONAL)
The objective of ECO Platform is the development of verified environmental information of construction products, in particular type III declarations called Environmental Product Declarations. The added value of EPD under the ECO Platform framework is the possibility to use these declarations in all European but also international markets. ECO Platform EPDs are supported by the most important program operators in Europe and their quality and international acceptance is guaranteed.
Merge Urbanscape® Solar System with the Urbanscape® Green Roof System and, thanks to our unique mineral wool growing media, achieve optimal water distribution, improved plant growth under the panels and higer fire resistance of the roof (Euroclass A1 of non-combustibility is confirmed for Urbanscape® Green Roll growing media).
THE GREEN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IS MOVING FAST WITH A GROWING TREND FOR GREEN BUILDING RATING TOOLS.
Our products inherently reduce energy, but on top of that our insulation products and systems are amongst the most sustainable, from high levels of recycled content in our Mineral Wool, which was the first to receive Gold for Eurofins Indoor Air Comfort Gold certification in 2010 to responsibly sourced wood for our Wood Wool.
Furthermore, our products are supported by an EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) and other performance certification proving that we are pioneering in product sustainability and that our insulation contributes to greener, more sustainable buildings. The green construction industry is moving fast with a growing trend for building sustainability rating tools.
Using our products earns points in Green Building Rating Systems. You can browse the following documents to understand in which rating categories our products will help your earn more points in the various schemes.
Green Roof System – Urbanscape Architecture (urbanscape-architecture.com)
BREEM INTERNATIONAL
LEED V4.1.
DGNB
WELL
QUICK GUIDE TO FOUR POPULAR GREEN BUILDING ASSESSMENT INITIATIVES
BREEAM or Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method started in the UK in 1990 where it is now a voluntary initiative in the private sector and compulsory in the public sector. Points are awarded in line with sustainable approaches to energy and water use, internal environment, pollution, transport, materials, waste, ecology, management processes and the life-cycle of buildings. A total of 109 credits are available of which less than 30 is a fail, a good is 45, very good 55, excellent 70 and outstanding over 85.
LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design started in 1993 in the US and is now popular worldwide as well as in North America. It covers new, existing, commercial and residential property and is concerned with energy, atmosphere, water efficiency, materials, resources and indoor environmental quality. There are a hundred points to achieve. To be certified you need above 40, to get silver >50, gold is >60 and platinum is >80 points and over.
DGNB or Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachaltiges Bauen (German Sustainable Building Council) was founded in 2008 and focuses on around 50 criteria ranging from environmental, economic, technological and work process aspects to sociocultural and functional dimensions. “A holistic approach is taken” meaning the system assesses the entire lifecycle of the building. Buildings are awarded DGNB certificates in bronze, silver or gold. In addition, there is the option of simple precertification in the planning phase.
WELL or Well Building Standard™ was launched in 2014 by WELL Building Institute™ and there are now more then 34.000 WELL projects in 98 countries. It is one of the leading global rating systems focusing mainly on the ways that buildings can improve comfort and in general advance health and well-being for its residents through issues such as thermal and acoustic comfort, good air quality, connection to nature…
KI products strictly comply with REACH regulation. This compliance provide additional points through building rating systems like LEEDv4 or BREEAM. REACH Regulation (registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals) places responsibility on industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances. Manufacturers and importers are required to gather information on the properties of their chemical substances, which will allow their safe handling, and to register the information in a central database.
HQE or Haute Qualité Environnementale (High Quality Standard) is a French initiative that started in 1996. Not as widely adopted as LEED or BREEAM, HQE is still committed to common aims including reducing energy and water use, minimal environmental impact on surroundings, a healthy internal environment and the full life-cycle of a building. It covers new and existing buildings from commercial properties to multi-family housing.
WE ARE COMMITTED TO PROVIDE YOU A VARIETY OF INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL CERTIFICATES AND “ECOLABELS” TO SHOW THE REAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS FROM PRODUCING OR USING OF OUR PRODUCTS.
TYPE II DECLARATIONS
These include declarations of a certain performance. For example, our Glass Mineral Wool boasts up to 82% recycled glass bottles. In the US, our level of recycled content is externally verified through UL Environment, who provides validations for environmental claims.
Recycled content is a good indication of a more sustainable product. But, if you really want to know about product sustainability, we believe that an EPD paints a fuller picture (check our EPD pages).
TYPE I DECLARATIONS
We are certified for some of the major European and local eco-labels. Some examples of labels that we are certified for include Declare, Eurofins, Germany’s Blue Angel and the French product emissions labelling regulation.
Declare is a nutrition label for building products. It disclose all intentionally-added ingredients and residuals at or above 100ppm (0.01%) present in the final product by weight.
However, there are other labels in the market that are created to look impressive but lack the necessary criteria to actually mean anything. In the world of sustainable products, there can be many different shades of green.
Some eco-labels provide useful information, but if customers want to know about product sustainability, they should ask for an EPD of a particular product and go from there.
