Owens Corning Improving Energy and Material Efficiency of Glass Fiber Products

Jul 9 2008

Owens Corning, a world leader in building materials systems and glass fiber reinforcements, has made significant progress throughout its history in dramatically improving the energy and material efficiency of the production of glass fiber products.

Today, Owens Corning uses only nine percent of the energy needed 50 years ago to melt glass for its insulation and glass reinforcement products.

"Energy efficiency is a fundamental part of our approach to sustainability, which we define as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the world that we leave to the future," said Frank O'Brien-Bernini, chief sustainability officer for Owens Corning. "The production of fiberglass insulation is significantly less energy intensive than it was 50 years ago as a result of innovation. The amount of energy used in production is now recouped within about four to five weeks of product use in a typical building. Moreover, it performs this energy-saving function for the life of the building with no added resource consumption."

Through continuous product and process innovation, Owens Corning uses about 55 percent less raw materials to produce the same insulating characteristics today as it did 50 years ago. In addition, the company recycles about 1 billion pounds of glass each year.

More recently, the energy needed to produce Owens Corning products has been reduced by 16 percent during the past five years. The company is implementing many innovations around the globe to meet its 10-year goal of a 25 percent energy-intensity reduction by 2012.

Operating about 65 furnaces around the world, Owens Corning manufacturers fiberglass products for both reinforcements (used in applications like wind turbine blades, automobiles, infrastructure, consumer electronics, piping) and insulation products (used in homes, commercial buildings and industrial energy-saving applications).

"Greening our operations" is fundamental to Owens Corning's business strategy. For more information on sustainability at Owens Corning, visit http://www.owenscorning.com/sustainability.

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