3.5b
billion tonnes of carbon emissions annually are attributable to building materials and construction…
…in a world where the building stock is expected to double by 2060…
…and upfront or embodied carbon is expected to account for half of the entire carbon footprint of new buildings between now and 2050.
As buildings start to decarbonise through energy-efficiency and
renewable energy, the focus will shift from operational carbon – such as heat
and light – to the growing priority of embodied carbon.
Low Carbon Insulated Panels
In 2021 the team at our IKON Global Innovation Centre, working with our supply partners, developed a low carbon insulated panel. It has 25% less embodied carbon than a standard insulated panel and upwards of 45% recycled content.
This initial development is focussed on the steel element of the insulated panel but we have several exciting R&D projects ongoing which focus on the embodied carbon and renewable elements of the insulation core.
In a 100k m2 industrial building, this would equate to a saving of over 1,100 tonnes1 of embodied CO2e in the building envelope alone.
1 Comparison between insulated roof and wall panels with 100mm thickness and 10metre panel length in building height
