Leaders of Pilkington UK, which is part of the NSG Group, have launched a new glass range that has 50% less embodied carbon compared to standard float glass. Pilkington Mirai represents the lowest carbon product of its kind on the market, the leaders have claimed. The name Mirai, meaning ‘future’ in Japanese, was chosen to mark the start of the next generation of low-carbon glass products.
Pilkington Mirai is being introduced as a study commissioned by the glassmaker revealed that four in five (79%) architects say that clients are more concerned about the embodied carbon of building products than they were five years ago. Pilkington Mirai can be offered as a low-carbon alternative to regular float glass, with no difference in performance, quality or aesthetic appearance, according to the Pilkington team. It has been pioneered using a combination of alternative fuel, high recycled glass content and green electricity sources.
“The launch of Pilkington Mirai represents the beginning of an exciting journey,” said Kristian Chalmers, the NSG Group’s global strategic commercial manager. “The new range will be instrumental in providing architects with the solutions they need for reducing the carbon intensity of their projects. We aim to expand our offering through further collaboration and technological advancements in the near future on our journey towards achieving carbon neutrality.”
Pilkington Mirai is available for uncoated and coated specifications. It comes in varying thicknesses and has the ability to be laminated.
The new glass can be combined with other high-performance low emissivity, solar control and acoustic coatings in the Pilkington product family. The glassmaker also has environmental product declarations (EPDs) for selected glass ranges, to provide building designers with greater transparency over the carbon lifecycle of building materials.
Dave Dalton, chief executive of British Glass, said: “Pilkington UK’s new low-carbon glass is an exemplar for what can be achieved when a manufacturer collaborates with its partners and innovates. Driving sustainability in the built environment represents a huge challenge, but products like this will make an important contribution in how we tackle decarbonisation across the glass supply chain.”
Aston Fuller, general manager at Glass Futures, an organisation researching innovative new solutions and technologies to help the global glass industry to create greener products, said: “We work collaboratively with our members to complete ground-breaking trials and demonstrate the feasibility of industrial scale alternative low-carbon fuels like hydrogen and biofuel. To see the application of this technology and cut half of the embodied carbon of glass is a major technical achievement, with an abundance of research well underway on how the industry can ultimately cut all carbon ready for 2050.”
For more information about the product, visit the dedicated product page.
