Knauf Insulation North America is simplifying the process of researching and specifying building products that meet today’s most stringent green building rating systems through an innovative partnership with Sustainable Minds. 

Sustainable Minds is an environmental product transparency applications, data and services provider that helps product manufacturers design and market greener products. It does so by presenting environmental performance data on building products in an understandable and credible way. By partnering with Sustainable Minds, Knauf is simplifying the process of researching and specifying its insulation products for buildings that meet today’s most stringent green building rating systems.

KINA is the first insulation manufacturer to use SM Transparency Reports and SM Material Health Overviews to make it easy for AECs to find environmental & material information in one place. The two organizations have also partnered to launch a new Project Builder / Configurator & Library function within the SM Transparency Catalog. 

"Having revolutionized the insulation market with the creation of our bio-based and rapidly-renewable ECOSE binder, Knauf remains committed to staying at the forefront of sustainable building practices," said Christopher Griffin, CEO, KINA. "We care about what goes into our products and how they are made. We are committed to creating product transparency disclosures for all our products to demonstrate our passion for manufacturing sustainable products that make a difference."  

KINA has listed 17 of its glass mineral wool insulation products across five CSI MasterFormat Divisions in the SM Transparency Catalog. The catalog is a cloud-based resource that makes it convenient to navigate product transparency information so architects and specifiers can find sustainable products. It also provides detailed information on how to use these documents to earn credits through programs such as LEED v4, Collaborative for High Performance Schools, Green Globes, the Well Building Standard and the Living Building Challenge.

SM Transparency Reports provide not only the technical data required in Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), but bring that data to life by telling the Knauf sustainability story across the product life cycle. All life cycle data included in the Transparency Reports is third-party verified by NSF International.

"Material ingredient and life cycle data can be tough to navigate, especially when trying to align with today’s green building rating systems," said Scott Miller, director of sustainability at KINA. "The partnership with Sustainable Minds simplifies this process—you can find everything about Knauf products in one place." 

KINA has partnered with Sustainable Minds to make the Transparency Catalog even more user-friendly through the development of a new Project Builder / Configurator & Library. Now, users can create projects in the Knauf Showroom and select, configure and save all the products and their Transparency Reports, Declare labels and Health Product Declarations (HPD) in a project library. This information can then easily be shared with colleagues online or downloaded for distribution. 

"This forward-thinking initiative showcases what Knauf is doing to improve its products and makes it actionable for building professionals, transforming the way they approach specifying sustainable building products. The amount of information Knauf provides to make the LCA results understandable and meaningful is unparalleled," said Terry Swack, CEO, Sustainable Minds. "Our goal with the Transparency Catalog is to reward those manufacturers who are actually making higher performing, greener and healthier products by getting their products selected and specified. The result is that greener buildings actually get built and everybody and the planet win." 

Sustainable Minds will host a webinar 2 p.m. ET Thursday, Nov. 16 to provide an in-depth look at the new Project Builder / Configurator & Library. Register at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1478327854896287233.