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More sustainable building with climate neutral* Makrolon® RE resins
As the construction industry strives for greater sustainability, our Makrolon® RE resins reduce the carbon embedded in the polycarbonate used for translucent roofing, skylights, light domes and facades. This ready-to-use solution makes more sustainable construction an option for builders today.
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More sustainable buildings: a challenge for the entire value chain
Everyone’s talking about the building environment – the spaces we live and work in and how sustainable they can be constructed. So the construction industry faces multiple sustainability and climate change challenges. Up to now, the key priority for owners has been the operating life of a building, giving energy management, insulation and cost efficiency the primary focus. But climate-aware, more sustainable building practices now demand taking a wider, more circular view of a building’s full life cycle.
This means measuring the carbon footprint of the actual construction process as well as the carbon emissions from extracting and producing the materials is crucial.
This shift to circular practices will require a collaborative approach across the value chain. As a major chemical producer, we are developing climate-neutral solutions for the construction sector that are already available today.
We support our industry partners in the construction industry in meeting their sustainability targets. With our climate neutral Makrolon® RE portfolio, our customers enjoy exactly the same quality and performance as fossil-based products without the need to change existing production processes.
Polycarbonate: a transparent, energy-saving building material
Transparent sheets made of polycarbonate (PCS) are an interesting material for a sector looking for cost-effective solutions. PCS sheets are inherently lightweight, transparent and extremely tough. Crucially, they can be tuned for a wide range of colors and degrees of transparency. This makes them optimal for applications that require some degree of light transmission or scattering, such as roofing and facades, light panels, skylights and greenhouses.
Letting daylight flood into a building through panels or skylights creates a more livable and workable environment, while the need for artificial lighting is reduced or eliminated, saving electricity and operating costs
Color, form and degree of translucency can also be engineered with additional functions such as heat insulation.
Polycarbonate sheets made with Makrolon® are an asset for architects, designers and construction companies who want to unite design freedom in shape and form with excellent weathering and durability properties.
Makrolon® RE resins: more sustainable climate neutral* polycarbonates, available today
To meet the growing demand for more sustainable building materials in the construction sector, we have developed a new portfolio of Makrolon® RE resins that can reduce emissions to levels as low as zero.
Makrolon® RE is a more sustainable, climate neutral* grade of PC resin with performance identical to fossil-derived, conventionalpolycarbonates. With Makrolon® RE, construction companies, architects and designers can replace fossil raw materials with climate neutral ones at the beginning of the value chain.
How do we achieve climate neutrality? First, we integrate alternative raw materials – circular feedstock inputs like plant residues and used cooking oils - into our chemical feedstock using an ISCC Plus certified mass balance approach. This chain-of-custody accounting method allows fossil and alternative raw materials to be mixed into large-scale chemical plant production but to be tracked and allocated separately. This mass balance approach enables renewable materials and circular feedstocks to be attributed to specific end products in a verifiable way.
Second, we use renewable energy to power the chlorine electrolysis process and other key steps in the polycarbonate production.
The result is a drop-in solution with zero technical risk and no needs to change processes for our customers. The share of attributed sustainable material can reach as high as 89%, with a carbon neutral manufacturing footprint. And Makrolon® RE resins deliver exactly the same technical performance as fossil-based polycarbonates.
Our carbon neutral Makrolon® RE portfolio is an optimal choice for customers looking for alternative raw materials with a lower carbon footprint that meets their sustainability targets today.
* The "climate neutral" rating is the result of an assessment of a section of the entire product life cycle. The section from resource extraction (cradle) to the factory gate was considered. The assessment is based on the ISO 14040 standard and was critically reviewed for plausibility by TÜV Rheinland. The assessment takes into account biogenic carbon sequestration based on preliminary data from the supply chain and the use of renewable electricity in the production process. The electricity was allocated on the basis of so-called "Guarantee of Origin" certificates. So-called offset certificates were not applied.
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Modern greenhouse constructed with transparent polycarbonate sheets. -
In 2019, Covestro’s booth at K Fair featured transparent colored walls made of polycarbonate sheets. -
Stadium with transparent roofing using Makrolon®
Key Benefits
- Zero emissions: Makrolon® RE is produced using renewable electricity with no CO₂ emissions.
- High performance: More sustainable Makrolon® RE meet the quality of fossil-based polycarbonates.
- Fast implementation: Makrolon® RE is a drop-in solution with no need to change production processes.
- High-performance: Makrolon® RE offers high transparency, very good weathering and high stiffness.
- Energy-saving: More daylight in a building means lights can be turned off, saving energy.
