Knauf Insulation North America Raises the Bar on Product Transparency at 2017 Greenbuild Expo

Knauf Insulation North America (KINA) is preparing to set a new standard in product transparency at the 2017 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, November 8-10 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. KINA (booth #1743) will announce an innovative partnership with Sustainable Minds (SM), launching a new Project Builder / Configurator & Library function within the SM Transparency Catalog.

Sustainable Minds is a provider of environmental product transparency applications, data, and services to help product manufacturers design and market greener products. It does so by presenting environmental performance data on building products in an understandable and credible way. By partnering with Sustainable Minds, KINA is simplifying the process of researching and specifying its insulation products for buildings that meet today’s most stringent green building rating systems.

"With the creation of ECOSE™ Technology, the industry’s first bio-based binder, Knauf revolutionized how the world viewed insulation and forced change across the board," said Christopher Griffin, CEO, KINA. "We have consistently challenged ourselves to remain at the forefront of sustainable building practices. Embracing product transparency is the next step in that evolution."

KINA has listed 17 of its glass mineral wool insulation products across five CSI MasterFormat® Divisions in the SM Transparency Catalog. The catalog is a cloud-based resource that brings product transparency information to life by making it easy and understandable for architects and specifiers to find sustainable products. It also provides detailed information on how to use these documents to earn credits through programs such as LEED v4, Collaborative for High Performance Schools, Green Globes, the Well Building Standard and the Living Building Challenge.

"If all manufacturers follow Knauf, it will make it easier for design professionals to find the best products from the brands they prefer and will enable better informed and comparative decisions," said Scott Miller, director of sustainability, KINA.

Knauf is the only insulation manufacturer whose entire line of products for commercial, residential and industrial applications are formaldehyde-free. This is due to the company’s revolutionary ECOSE Technology, a sustainable binder made from rapidly renewable organic materials. Since 2012 KINA has used the Living Building Challenge (LBC) Red List as a developmental benchmark, and was the first glass mineral wool insulation brand to disclose all of its product ingredients through the International Living Future Institute’s Declare list. KINA has received Red List free status with the vast majority of its products.

In terms of energy savings, all KINA products are inherently sustainable. They save many more times the amount of energy it takes to produce them. For a typical 30,000 sq. ft. building located in climate zone 5, it would take 30 days to recoup the energy used to manufacture the insulation. Over its lifetime, building’s insulation would save nearly 16,000 equivalent barrels of oil. Through the use of bio-based chemistry, a high degree of recycled glass, and full ingredient disclosure, KINA is an industry leader in sustainability.

To highlight its leadership in sustainable manufacturing and product transparency at Greenbuild, KINA will showcase the three primary ingredients used to manufacture its products—corn, recycled glass cullet and sand. After learning about the renewable resources used to make Knauf products, the company’s recycling program and other sustainability initiatives, attendees are invited to participate in a trivia challenge where they can guess the amount of each ingredient used in the production of a typical bag of Knauf glass mineral wool for a chance to win daily prizes, including an eco-vacation grand prize.

KINA will also be part of the Greenbuild Expo’s Passport to Prizes, where attendees can enter to win prizes by visiting all participating exhibitor’s booths and completing passport cards at each. Prizes in the past have included hybrid cars, electric bikes and $10,000 in cash.

In a nod to the high recycled glass content in its products, KINA also will offer glass recycling receptacles in its booth, transporting everything collected back to its manufacturing facilities where it will be used to manufacture new products.

For more information about KINA’s commitment to sustainability, visit http://www.knaufinsulation.us/en/sustainability.

Knauf Insulation North America is a leading, family-owned global manufacturer of thermal and acoustical glass mineral wool insulation for residential, commercial, industrial, OEM and metal building applications. It’s KINA’s mission to challenge conventional thinking and create innovative solutions that shape the way we live and build in the future, with care for the people who make them, the people who use them and the world we all depend on. 

In 2009 Knauf Insulation launched ECOSE Technology, a revolutionary formaldehyde-free binder that redefined how the industry viewed insulation. The company subsequently became the first GREENGUARD-certified building material and the first to reach 60 percent post-consumer recyclable materials in its products, and has continued its commitment to leadership in sustainability by becoming the first glass mineral wool insulation brand to disclose all of its product ingredients through the International Living Future Institute’s Declare list, receiving Red List free status with several of its products. 

For more information, visit www.knaufinsulation.us.

Sustainable Minds is a B2B cloud provider of environmental product transparency applications, data, and services to help product manufacturers design and market greener products. In 2013, the company introduced its award-winning SM Transparency Report™, an ISO 14025 Type III environmental declaration (EPD) and became a program operator expressly to develop standardized environmental reporting guidance and tools that make product transparency easier, understandable and more effective. 

Sustainable Minds is dedicated to operationalizing environmental performance in mainstream product development and manufacturing in an understandable, empowering, and credible way. Its easy-to-use standardized solutions make it possible for manufacturers large and small to drive revenue and growth through greener product innovation. For more information, visit www.sustainableminds.com, www.transparencycatalog.com, or www.programoperators.org.