Saint-Gobain Glass and Hydro Promote Low Carbon Façades

Bruno Mauvernay (left), Managing Director Business Unit Glass Facades at Saint-Gobain and Henri Gomez (right), Vice President at Hydro Building Systems | Photo: Saint-Gobain Glass

Saint-Gobain Glass and Hydro Building Systems join forces to lead the market towards low carbon façades

Saint-Gobain Glass and Hydro Building Systems are joining forces to drive decarbonisation by helping the building industry design sustainable façades that have circularity built in. The two companies are leading the way through the use of low embodied carbon products thanks to a high percentage of recycled materials: specifically, the Saint-Gobain Glass ORAé® glass substrate and Hydro Building Systems aluminium façade products manufactured from Hydro CIRCAL® 75R.

ORAé® is a new glass substrate with the world’s lowest carbon footprint. According to its EPD, ORAé® has a verified carbon footprint value of 6.64kg CO2 eq./m2 (for a 4mm substrate), a reduction of 42% compared to the Saint-Gobain Glass European baseline clear glass. This has been achieved through the use of renewable electricity and a recycled content of 64%.

Hydro CIRCAL® 75R, first launched in 2019, is a prime quality aluminium made with a minimum of 75% recycled post-consumer scrap aluminium. Hydro CIRCAL® 75R has a carbon footprint among the lowest in the world: 2.3 kg CO2 /kg of aluminium.

With a shared dedication to sustainable development, Saint-Gobain Glass and Hydro Building Systems, which includes the TECHNAL, WICONA, SAPA, and DOMAL brands, as well as recently acquired HUECK, are committed to helping developers and specifiers create more sustainable, lower embodied carbon buildings.

Buildings are currently responsible for 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions: the materials and construction of buildings accounts for 11% of all embodied carbon emissions, with a further 28% from operational building emissions (for heating, cooling, and power).

According to an official life cycle assessment study of façades, it is estimated that the embodied carbon of the building façade could be reduced by up to half by combining façade systems made from Hydro CIRCAL® 75R glazed with ORAé® products, such as the COOL-LITE® XTREME ORAé® solar control glass.

In addition, due to stringent emission regulations and the simple fact that the reserves of resources are slowly but surely being exhausted, the world’s interest in urban mining is increasing.

Saint-Gobain Glass and Hydro Building Systems are separately investing in developing urban mining partnerships throughout Europe, in line with their circularity approach. Each company has implemented initiatives to collect and recycle end-of-life aluminium and glass, thus fostering circularity.

Working in this direction, it is both companies’ ambition to continue developing partnerships with other stakeholders, deepen their research to develop increasingly sustainable products, and keep on leading the way by acting beyond regulations.

For more information about Saint-Gobain ORAE® visit https://www.saint-gobain-glass.com/products/ORAE

To find out more about Hydro CIRCAL® 75R visit https://www.hydro.com/en-FR/aluminium/products/low-carbon-and-recycled-aluminium/low-carbon-aluminium/hydro-circal/

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Marion Portenseigne, BU Glass Façade Specification Director at Saint-Gobain Glass said:

“We share with Hydro Building Systems the same ambition to accelerate decarbonisation in the construction sector. This partnership will enable us to increase the awareness of low carbon solutions for façades. This means common specification training for our specifiers to get to know the counterpart offer, then joint communication actions that started with BAU fair in Germany last April, and shared initiatives on specific projects to promote both solutions.”

Bruno Mauvernay Managing Director Business Unit Glass Façades at Saint-Gobain added:

“Together, thanks to the combination of our low carbon materials, ORAé® and CIRCAL® 75R, we are now able to promote a low carbon façade which contains around 50% less embodied CO2 compared to a standard façade, bringing developers and architects along with us into our commitment towards carbon neutrality.”

Lucile Souyri, Sustainability Manager at Hydro Building Systems commented:

“For many years, sustainability has been a core part of our strategy as a business and the driving force behind our commitment to low carbon innovation. We are delighted to be able to work alongside Saint-Gobain Glass in setting a new standard and leading the way towards a more sustainable construction environment. Thus, our partnership includes the elements presented by Marion earlier, and moreover working together to ensure that glass and aluminium from end-of life façades will be recycled. However, this will only be achieved through closer collaboration with teams of both companies involved, from the initial design stages to the completion of the building.”

Henri Gomez, Vice President at Hydro Building Systems continued:

“Ten years ago, we started our journey towards decarbonization of the buildings with CIRCAL® 75R, and we continue to lead the way with CIRCAL® 100R. And now by partnering with Saint-Gobain Glass, a strong player from the building and construction sector, we go beyond regulations.”