Saint-Gobain North America, which has made multiple moves to cut its on-site carbon footprint in manufacturing, has upgraded the equipment at its roofing plant in Shakopee, Minnesota through its building products subsidiary CertainTeed.
The equipment upgrade is expected to save more than 5,000 MWh of electricity annually and reduce carbon emissions. The upgrades include the installation of three energy-efficient air compressors with control functions, two new refrigerant air dryers and a new hot oil heater.
An additional hot oil heater will be replaced later in 2022, bringing in additional energy savings.
“As we continue our leadership in light and sustainable construction, we must continuously work to minimize the environmental footprint of our production processes,” said Carmen Bodden, Vice President and General Manager of CertainTeed Roofing Product Group. “These upgrades in Shakopee are an excellent example of how Saint-Gobain prioritizes energy efficiency while working to make the world a better home.”
Among the recent sustainability actions the firm has taken are the signing of a 10-year renewable electricity supply agreement and reclaiming of waste gypsum wallboard for reuse as feedstock in production.
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The global building materials and manufacturing firm has made at least five energy efficiency moves at its plants in North America over the past year. Saint-Gobain installed variable frequency drive and grinding control technologies at its wallboard subsidiary CertainTeed’s New York gypsum plant, as well as investing to reduce energy consumption at other facilities in Montreal and Vancouver.
“The first stop on the path to Net Zero is energy efficiency,” Saint-Gobain’s executive Dennis Wilson said earlier this year.
In an interview with EnergyTech earlier this year, Wilson, who is managing director of the company’s Circular Economy Solutions and vice president of ESG goal-making, said he sees no “silver bullet” to achieving Net Zero emissions goals within the coming decades. The alternative is to do many things.
Sustainability is really about resource efficiency,” Wilson said. “The companies which manage resources are better performers. This isn’t a flavor of the month.”
