Guardian introduces lower carbon float glass

  • Posted On - 16/01/2024
  • Posted By - Guardian Glass

Following successful pilot production runs, Guardian Glass is introducing a lower-carbon float glass to the European market.

The new lower-carbon float glass, Guardian Nexa, can also be used as a base glass or laminated glass for Guardian high performance products, including the Guardian SunGuard and the Guardian ClimaGuard ranges of coated glass products.

According to Guardian, its new Nexa glass can be used in a wide range of building facade applications and will help to reduce the embodied carbon of the built environment. When compared to its standard float glass production, the benefits of Guardian Nexa glass include:

  • Reduced embodied carbon by more than 30% to approximately 7.0 kg CO2e/m2 for 4mm float glass.
  • Higher cullet content from both internal and external sources.
  • No compromise on performance and aesthetics, similar to Guardian ExtraClear float glass.

Guardian Glass says that it ‘strives to improve both the environmental performance and effectiveness of its manufacturing processes and of its products, while consuming fewer resources.’

This is said to involve a consideration at each stage of the process, including the sourcing of raw materials and the efficiency of its furnaces.

Guus Boekhoudt, Guardian Glass executive vice president, commented: “This is a significant accomplishment by our R&D and operations teams, achieved through a combination of ongoing innovation in manufacturing processes and the optimisation of cullet use. It reflects our dedication to our environmental stewardship priorities, including improving energy efficiency and air emissions, and managing resources responsibly.”

Detailed environmental data on Guardian Nexa will be documented through an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). This is currently under development and is expected to be available in Q2 2024.

Since 2021, the scope of the EPDs for Guardian Glass products in Europe has been widened to consider CO2 emissions generated from production processes, increasing the level of transparency provided to customers.