For more than six decades, iconic Blue STYROFOAM insulation from The Dow Chemical Company has helped conserve energy and reduce CO2 emissions in homes and buildings by more than 250 million metric tons.
Recently, at GLOBE 2010, Dow announced it has successfully completed a two-year, multi-million dollar project to transform its line of energy saving insulation and air sealing products to more sustainable manufacturing technology in North America, cutting in half the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from production of STYROFOAM Brand Insulation at all of its converted production facilities in that region.
The announcement of this transformation comes on the heels of the company's support for President Obama's $6 billion HOMESTAR Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program.
"Increasing energy efficiency is the simplest, most accessible and cheapest way to extend energy supplies while also slashing carbon emissions," said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow chairman and chief executive officer. "As a world leader in applied chemistry, Dow is at the forefront of delivering innovative energy and climate change solutions. This is one hallmark example of how Dow is delivering solutions for some of the world's most critical challenges."
Dow was the first insulation manufacturer in North America to announce its discovery and development of a next-generation foaming agent solution to meet mandatory requirements agreed upon by signatory countries of the Montreal Protocol. The technology development was a significant milestone for Dow, and was the result of a multi-year research effort led by Nobel Prize winning researcher, Simon Lee.
Now all production facilities in North America have successfully converted to the company's new, proprietary foaming agent technology, which is zero ozone-depleting and contains no-VOCs (volatile organic compounds). The conversion process was a highly complex, multi-million dollar investment, involving more than 1,000 Dow employees and contractors over a two-year period.
According to Torsten Kraef, Dow building and construction business group vice president, the company has a proud legacy of building solutions that save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by the ongoing operation of buildings worldwide.
“Currently, buildings and homes account for over 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions put into our atmosphere,” said Kraef. “Dow has a wide array of products available today to address this challenge and enable our customers and partners to unlock dramatic improvements in the energy and climate change profiles of their businesses and products.”
Earlier this year, the suite of STYROFOAM Brand and other Dow insulation products achieved Cradle to Cradle Certification at the Basic and Silver levels. Cradle to Cradle is a process that assesses products for their ingredients' human health, environmental health and recyclability profiles. The rigorous, external assessment was conducted by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry LLC, a global sustainability consulting and product certification firm.
Dow continues to accelerate the development of energy alternatives across a variety of industries by investing in the development of materials, technologies and business strategies that enable new breakthrough solutions. Late in 2009, Dow announced it is making solar power an attainable, real, clean energy possibility for consumers through the development of solar technologies like its innovative DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingles. Through investment in its joint venture, Dow Kokam, the company is developing next generation battery technology to power hybrid and electric vehicles.
“We're proud to continue to raise the bar on our own sustainability commitments, while meeting the next-generation energy needs of consumers,” said Kraef.
