City Forest

Carbon-Neutral Silicones for Building Façades

Verified carbon-neutral silicone sealants and glazing for façade material.

PAS 2060 verified carbon neutrality

Dow is now offering the first-ever carbon-neutrality service

Available for silicones used in structural glazing, insulating glass and weather sealing applications on high-performance building façades. Produced in compliance with the internationally recognized PAS 2060 verified carbon neutrality standard, Dow Carbon-Neutral Silicones for Building Façades can support green-building design initiatives, enhance façade sustainability, and improve green-building ratings across the construction industry.

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Obtain carbon neutrality certification for your individual project

Click on the appropriate link below to request the Dow Carbon-Neutral Silicone Service for Building Façades on a global project-by-project basis. In case of questions or issues, please send an email to CNSi-Service@dow.com.

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Carbon-Neutral Silicones for Building Facades

Watch this video to see the global range of carbon-neutral façade silicones that can help address your needs.

Green Building

Take advantage of the world’s first commercially available carbon-neutral silicones

Dow’s project-specific Carbon Neutrality Certification Service for your façade building applications.

  • Trusted and credible – PAS 2060; externally verified.
  • Gain support earning additional building credits.
  • Enhance carbon balance (>20x) with long-term durable façade materials.
  • Design with less embodied carbon – potential aluminum reduction up to 15% in structural glazing façades.
  • Enhance operational carbon reduction – explore energy efficiency gains of up to 10% with structural glazing designs.
  • Access documentation and project support tools such Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for life-cycle environmental assessment of products and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) data to show the positive environmental impact of carbon neutrality.
 Dow’s carbon journey illustration

A holistic view of carbon neutrality

A holistic view of carbon neutrality is important beyond looking at the footprint of carbon-neutral DOWSIL™ Brand Façade Silicones. Equally important is considering the handprint and blueprint.

 

The handprint: DOWSIL™ Brand Façade Silicones have excellent long-term durability, with applications exceeding 65 years for weather sealants and more than 50 years for four-sided structural glazing silicones. Hence, the ratio between the carbon emitted during silicone production and the carbon emissions saved thanks to silicone’s longevity is very high. A factor of more than 20 has been calculated for insulating glass, as an example.

The blueprint design advantage: Looking beyond, think about the façade design. Silicones contribute to the realization of high-performing structural glazing façades with pure glass aesthetics. Can their use further decrease embodied carbon of the façade or contribute to a reduction of carbon emissions during building operation compared to captive façade designs, for example?

With the global diversity of façade designs and systems, the design technique can have a significant influence on the blueprint.

Design with less embodied carbon: Structural glazing designs can help save up to 15% of needed aluminum, leading to a reduction of the overall embodied carbon of a façade.

Energy efficiency: Simulations have shown that specific structural glazing designs can contribute to a reduction of the curtainwall U-value (UCW) of 10-25%, depending on the region and type of façade system.

Dow’ investing in the decarbonization of our backward-integrated production

Dow’s goal of a low-carbon future begins with material design, enabling a lower overall carbon footprint. By investing in the decarbonization of our backward-integrated production process for silicone feedstocks, we help provide our customers with carbon-neutral silicones for construction activities.

Silicon metal production is the biggest contributor to carbon emissions in the process production process. Using clean, renewable energy and responsibly sourced raw materials, there has been a 60-85% reduction in carbon emissions.

The remaining embodied carbon is offset to achieve carbon neutrality. Dow is using its own eucalyptus plantation and reforestation process to help ensure long-term carbon capture capabilities. The faster-growing eucalyptus trees can be regenerated in seven years, offering carbon sinks and raw materials (wood chips and charcoal) for silicon metal production

Dow silicone production capabilities not only help ensure precise control throughout the value chain all the way to the consumer, but also enable key achievements contributing to DOWSIL™ Brand Carbon-Neutral Façade Silicones. 

 Dow’s carbon-neutral equation
Waterfall running over mossy boulders.

PAS 2060-verified carbon-neutral silicones

PAS 2060-verified carbon-neutral silicones for bonding and structural glazing can help reduce the environmental impact of buildings, achieve better green-building certification ratings and help limit the creation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute to earth’s climate changes.

Carbon-neutral silicones can reduce the carbon needed to produce the silicone polymers to net zero. These materials are the building blocks of our products. Carbon-neutral silicones for specific building projects is a revolutionary offering, especially for technologies linked to the silicon metal manufacturing process, where Dow is uniquely positioned.

Dow understands the importance of reducing global carbon emissions which is why we are committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, in line with the Paris accords. Dow Reduced Carbon products and technologies are part of our strategic approach to achieving this goal. 

Ground view of Tower B at Two Clinton Park.

First carbon-neutral silicone project presented at Zak World of Façades

Looking to learn more?

Request information on carbon-neutral silicones from Dow.