The results of LCSs carried out by Saint-Gobain Glass on its products have just been published and are readily available. Saint-Gobain Glass actually embarked on evaluating its products using the LCA method in 2009, analyzing CO2 emissions, energy consumption, water consumption, air and water pollution, and more.
Saint-Gobain Glass is the first glass manufacturer in the world to have made a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of its products. The LCA is the most rigorous and most complete method for assessing the environmental footprint of a product or service, in a fully transparent way. The results of these LCAs have just been published and are readily available.
Awareness on environmental issues is greater than ever today and calls upon the involvement of every stakeholder, businesses and citizens alike. Saint-Gobain Glass has for many years sought to promote a global environmental approach by contributing to the initiatives taken by Saint-Gobain group to assert its ambition to be THE reference for sustainable habitat.
To go even further, Saint-Gobain Glass embarked on evaluating its products using the LCA method in 2009. These assessments are core to a continuous improvement process:
1. Assess the environmental footprint of glass products;
2. Improve this footprint by working daily on processes and products;
3. Eco-innovate, to design new, even more planet-friendly products.
Based on international standards (ISO 14 025, 14 040 & 14 044), the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) assesses a product’s environmental footprint at every stage of its life: from raw material extraction to end-of-life, going through all its manufacturing stages.
Using this method, all environmental impacts generated by the product are analyzed: CO2 emissions, energy consumption, water consumption, air and water pollution… The assessments are vital to confirm the relevance of actions undertaken to reduce environmental impacts when designing and manufacturing glazing.
The results of these LCAs are validated by an independent third-party organization and reported in the form of an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). These declarations may be downloaded from the Saint-Gobain Glass website (http://epd.saint-gobain-glass.com/).
Glass manufacturing consumes energy, since some glass raw materials (such as synthetic soda ash) need to be produced before being heated up, melted and transformed into glass. However, thanks to its excellent thermal performance, low-E double- or triple-glazing enables more energy to be saved during utilization than single-pane glass.
In this way, very quickly, within three months, the energy required to make SGG CLIMAPLUS Ultra N double-glazing is offset by the energy saved during the glass utilization stage (compared to single-glazing, as per a calculation made in France). Calculated over 30 years of glass life, the energy saved is 135 times greater than the energy required for production.
High-performance Saint-Gobain Glass glazing provides solutions in terms of saving energy and therefore CO2 emissions.
Life Cycle Assessment is a rigorous and transparent tool used to assess a product’s environmental footprint. This is why Saint-Gobain Glass has embraced this large-scale approach, working as close as possible to its products, to minimize their environmental impacts and eco-innovate for new glazing generations.