Saint-Gobain building products subsidiary CertainTeed is investing big on energy efficiency improvements that will increase production and cut electricity consumption at its Chowchilla insulation plant in California.
CertainTeed will spend $32 million to upgrade equipment including a new oven, furnace and other equipment. The upgrade is projected to increase production capacity at the plant by 13%, while reducing electricity and natural gas consumption and thereby decreasing its carbon footprint by more than 4,000 metric tons per year.
The new equipment is more efficient that the existing equipment at the plant. The firm has also installed a new oxygen generation unit at the plant, which reduces electricity consumption by 30%. The furnace is heated by mixing oxygen with natural gas.
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Approximately 20 Saint-Gobain project management professionals and engineers planned the equipment upgrades in Chowchilla. About 300 contract workers were hired to undertake the installations, which started last month. The new equipment is expected to come online this month and in March.
The investment is part of a broader $400 Million expansion of Saint-Gobain’s manufacturing facilities in the U.S. It is the largest capital investment made by the Saint-Gobain subsidiary in the plant, since the time it began operations in 1978.
“Our strategic investments in Chowchilla represent a major commitment to our customers on the West Coast for decades to come, ensuring that we will meet the need for our industry-leading fiberglass insulation at a time of unprecedented demand growth, all while reducing the plant’s carbon footprint,” said Andrew Goldberg, Vice President and General Manager of CertainTeed Insulation Product Group.
The company is working with the U.S. DOE's ENERGY STAR program to certify its plants as models for energy efficiency. The plants used closed-loop water systems to save thousands of gallons of water annually.
