Tackling climate change one building at a time

The figures may be depressing, but everyone, everywhere, one home at a time, can make a positive difference, says the World Green Building Council.

Launching World Green Building Week today, the council says: “The average global electricity consumption per household is 3,500kWh which generates around 2.6 tonnes of CO₂ or the same as 6,384 miles driven by an average car.

“If we all reduced our consumption by 20% that would deliver a saving of just over half a tonne of CO₂ per household or the equivalent of 1,277 miles of driving.”

The week runs until September 30 and is organised by the World Green Building Council with input from 74 local Green Building Councils as well as companies from all over the world — including Knauf Insulation.

Healthier buildings and homes

World Green Building Week aims to encourage people to create greener homes by cutting consumption by:

1. being mindful of energy use such as simply switching off unused lights and appliances;
2. upgrading buildings to be more energy efficient through smart technologies and renovation;
3. making buildings healthier through improved indoor air quality, more natural light, better acoustics and greener building materials.

At Knauf Insulation we are supporting the activities of World Green Building Week because creating energy efficient, healthier buildings with a low environmental impact goes to the heart of everything we do.

Vincent Briard, our Sustainability and Product Regulatory Affairs Director, says: “Our products are designed to save energy and contribute to good indoor air quality and acoustic health. We also relentlessly campaign with policy-makers round the world for more energy efficient buildings.”

It’s still not enough. That is why we are leveraging our expertise to scale up the transformation of millions of buildings by contributing significantly to  initiatives such as Level(s) — a European Commission pilot project designed to make buildings greener.

Pioneering change

We are helping specifiers navigate ever-changing Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) that place new emphasis on building health and full building lifecycle assessments through online support, third party verified data such as Environmental Product Declarations and a team that understands how to maximise the benefits of all major GBRS.

Our range of bio-based ECOSE binder products is being extended to incorporate all our Rock Mineral Wool solutions and, of course, we are constantly improving our products to make them even more efficient while developing a portfolio of new innovative concepts — such as our Urbanscape® Green Roof System.

Vincent Briard adds: “World Green Building Week is a fantastic way to generate greater awareness for the need for better buildings. Climate change is everyone’s responsibility and making our buildings greener will make a difference. We need to start today because — in the words of the World Green Building Council — there is no planet B.”

• To read all our Sustainability Guides - click here

• For more details visit the council’s site here