Drywall That Lowers Greenhouse Gas Emissions

It is hard to turn on the news without seeing warnings about rising greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and how time is running out for action. Design teams trying to lower their building materials’ carbon footprint usually look at reducing the amount of known high emitters, such as steel and concrete. But heavy interior products that are used in volume also generate a lot of carbon, and the most ubiquitous of these is drywall.

More than 25 billion square feet of U.S.-made drywall are shipped every year, according to the Gypsum Association. If we could reduce the carbon footprint of all that board, it would make a significant dent in carbon emissions. USG Corporation, a subsidiary of Gebr. Knauf KG, claims its EcoSmart panel can do just that, while saving water, and at little to no additional cost.