NEWS RELEASE

Knauf Insulation North America Receives Prestigious Honor

LEED Gold plaque presented by USGBC during a ceremony at Shelbyville, Indiana headquarters

(SHELBYVILLE, Ind., April 26, 2010) – In a ceremony at their Shelbyville, Indiana, headquarters on Wednesday April 21, executives from Knauf Insulation North America were presented with a plaque from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in recognition of their new corporate engineering office building earning LEED Gold certification.  LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,is an internationally recognized certification program that encourages and accelerates global adoption of green building practices.  It provides third-party verification that a building was designed and built using strategies that improve building performance. The Knauf Insulation engineering building is one of just a handful of buildings in Indiana to earn LEED Gold certification. Also recognized for their role in the building’s design and construction were Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects; Runnebohm Construction and Applied Engineering. Local dignitaries, including Shelby County Commissioners, Shelbyville City Council members and Shelbyville Mayor Scott Furgeson, were also on hand for the ceremony, aptly held just one day before Earth Day 2010.

Left to right: Jeff Overbey (USGBC, Indiana), Donald Able (USGBC, Indiana), Liz Ellis (USGBC, Indiana), Darrell Webb (Knauf Insulation North America), Mark Andrews (Knauf Insulation North America), Scott Miller (Knauf Insulation North America)

Construction began on the 24,860 square foot corporate engineering office building in December 2007, after a fire destroyed offices located in Knauf Insulation’s plant earlier that year. Building a LEED Gold certified building made sense from the beginning, so Knauf enlisted the help of Indianapolis architects Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf, who have an extensive history in developing LEED certified projects.

“LEED Gold is an important milestone for Knauf Insulation,” says Executive    Vice President Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects, Greg Jacoby.  “The L in LEED stands for leadership, and Knauf Insulation as a company has shown this leadership by making this addition. Receiving this certification along with other changes that Knauf Insulation has made in their manufacturing process shows their commitment to the LEED standards and sustainable design.”    

It’s a commitment that Knauf Insulation North America CEO Mark Andrews takes seriously.  “As manufacturers of glasswool insulation products made for the express purpose of saving energy, building to less than LEED Gold was not an option,” says Andrews. “Reducing the energy the building used and its impact on the environment was an absolute necessity.  Buildings account for 40 percent of all of the energy used in the United States, and nearly 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Properly installed insulation is the most cost effective way to reduce a building’s energy consumption and slash its carbon footprint by reducing the amount of energy required to heat and cool it.  Because energy efficiency is vitally important to preserving our way of life, we all have to act responsibly. We have to educate people on the importance of saving energy and building in a more sustainable manner. We were given the opportunity to demonstrate this with the construction of our new engineering building. It was an opportunity that we had to seize upon.”

 Knauf Insulation North America’s LEED Gold Building in Shelbyville, Indiana

The building, which was completed in October 2008, uses 30 percent less energy and water than a conventional building.  The space houses Knauf Insulation Corporate Engineering, Corporate Human Resources and Product & Process Development.  It is equipped with 44 offices (with capacity for up to 50), a 126-seat Knauf Academy classroom with video conferencing capabilities and an employee fitness center.

The U.S. Green Building Council, comprised of member organizations such as contractors, government agencies, architects and designers, created the LEED program to provide guidelines for the construction of more sustainable buildings.  LEED sets the standard for the specification and construction of healthy buildings and interiors that offer superior indoor air quality, energy efficiency and sustainable design.

Some key design attributes that contributed to the LEED Gold certification include:

• Locally obtained and recycled materials were used during construction, and renewable materials were used in lieu of most petroleum based products.
• A white membrane roof ensures that minimal heat island effect is felt by the local community.
• Native plant material landscaping, recycled water irrigation reduce environmental impact
• Super insulated walls (R-40), the strategic use of sun shaded windows and “daylight harvesting” also vastly reduce the need for electricity to heat, light and cool the space.
• Energy saving lighting with 50 percent curtailment based on outside light entering the building and motion sensors in all offices further reduce electric load.
• Waterless urinals and water saver toilets were installed in all of the bathroom facilities.
• Extensive use of low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), recycled and locally-obtained materials reduces the environmental impact.
• CO² sensors are used to control heating and cooling in the Knauf Academy when classes and events are in session.

Knauf Insulation Director of Sustainability and Product Affairs, Scott Miller echoed the feeling of responsibility.  “We never questioned building to LEED Gold certification,” remembers Miller.  “We felt it was our responsibility—we knew we had to.”

“If you look at the products we produce,” continues Miller, “common sense says that we’d build to LEED Gold because it supports our ongoing commitment to energy efficiency.  Insulation is a known technology that has an immediate economic impact and provides a substantial environmental payback. Knauf Insulation’s products have always been sustainable because of what they are made from: sand, one of the world’s most abundant, renewable resources and post-consumer recycled bottled glass collected in major metropolitan areas.  And now, with ECOSE^® Technology — our revolutionary bio-based binder technology — we’ve eliminated the petroleum-based chemicals that were traditionally in our binder.  Today, our products made with ECOSE Technology contain no phenol, formaldehyde, acrylics or artificial colors.  They are the most energy efficient, sustainable products we’ve ever manufactured.”

“It has always been about energy efficiency for us,” finishes Miller.  “We’re grateful that the USGBC LEED certification program is driving market transformation towards more energy efficient and sustainable construction. As evidenced by our new engineering building, we support their efforts whole-heartedly—because it’s the right thing to do.”

Knauf Insulation North America’s LEED Gold Building in Shelbyville, Indiana

For jpeg files of photography, please contact Stacey Lee at slee@cvrindy.com.

Knauf Insulation is a leading global manufacturer of thermal and acoustical insulations for residential, commercial, industrial, OEM and metal building applications. For more information about Knauf sales and products, visit www.knaufinsulation.us, write to Knauf Insulation GmbH, One Knauf Drive, Shelbyville, IN  46176 or call 800-825-4434 ext. 8212.

# # #