VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Saint-Gobain, through its building products subsidiary CertainTeed Canada Inc., has completed installation of a heat exchanger system on its industrial drywall board dryer at its gypsum facility outside Vancouver, British Columbia, which is expected to reduce the plant’s Scope 1 carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 15%. This project, the first of its kind for CertainTeed Canada, signifies a substantial investment towards increased efficiency, output and recycling, and aligns with the company’s goal to deliver the most sustainable local products to customers.
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CertainTeed’s Gypsum Wallboard Plant outside Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo: Business Wire)
The milestone comes as Saint-Gobain continues to successfully execute its Grow and Impact strategy, which includes ambitious environmental sustainability goals such as reducing the company’s consumption of energy and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. A nearly $7 million CAD investment, CertainTeed’s project in Vancouver was selected to receive $2.9 million CAD in grants, including $1.4 million CAD from the CleanBC Industry Fund program, part of the Province of British Columbia’s CleanBC Program for Industry, and $1.5 million CAD from FortisBC Energy Inc.’s (FortisBC) Custom Efficiency Program.
Gypsum wallboard is made from a gypsum slurry that is poured and dries between two sheets of paper. During one step in this process, the wallboard passes through a large, heated dryer that helps solidify the wallboard and remove moisture from the product. In Vancouver, a heat exchanger will now capture and recycle some of the waste heat emitted from the dryer, allowing the plant to maintain the dryer’s temperature while consuming less energy and ultimately reducing the facility’s carbon dioxide emissions.
“As the leader in light and sustainable construction in Canada, we must take every step available to minimize the carbon footprint of our production process, and our new heat exchanger system in Vancouver is the perfect example of that work in action,” said Julie Bonamy Racine, CEO of CertainTeed Canada. “This project showcases how government and private industry can work together to make a real difference toward our sustainability goals, and I