A comparative Life Cycle assessment of building insulation products made of stone wool, paper wool and flax

Schmidt, Anders; Jensen, Allan Astrup; Clausen, Anders U.; Kamstrup, Ole; Postlethwaite, Dennis

doi:10.1007/bf02978536

Cited by 102 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Several building materials and products have already been assessed by LCA (Woolley and Kimmins 2000) such as: wood, concrete (Björklund and Tillman 1997), clay bricks (Koroneos and Dompros 2006), insulating stone wool (Schmidt et al 2004), hard floor coverings (Günther and Langowski 1997), and so on. However, there are still some materials for which life cycle inventory (LCI) data are missing or not well established.…”

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confidence: 99%

Environmental performance of building materials: life cycle assessment of a typical Sicilian marble

Traverso

Rizzo

Finkbeiner

2009

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Background, aim, and scope: The building sector is strategically important for achieving sustainability. Therefore, the improvement of energy and environmental performances are relevant targets because precious building materials such as marble have a significant impact on the environment. The aim of this paper is an analysis of a typical Sicilian marble (Perlato di Sicilia) to evaluate its energy and environmental performance. Marble plays an important role in the economy of Italy and has a global market share of 58% in terms of exports. For the main production areas of marble, relevant environmental performance data are missing except for one region (Tuscany-Massa e Carrara province). Perlato di Sicilia, the main marble of Custonaci (Sicily), has never been analyzed previously. Materials and methods: Life cycle assessment (LCA) according to ISO 14040/44 is applied to marble tiles and slabs. For the life cycle inventory, data were collected from a representative plant in the Custonaci basin. In this small area of 69 km 2, about 54 quarries and related cutting plants are concentrated. The impact assessment includes the following categories: global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and photochemical oxidation (POCP), following the CML-IA baseline 2007. Results: The results of the impact assessment for 1 m3 of marble tiles are 314.8 kg CO 2eq of GWP, 1.19 kg SO 2eq of AP, 0.073 g PO 4 - -eq of EP, and 0.046 kg ethylene eq of POCP. For slabs, the corresponding results were 200.1 kg CO 2eq of GWP, 0.77 kg SO 2eq of AP, 0.053 kg PO 4 - -eq of EP, and 0.029 kg ethylene eq of POCP. The total embodied energy values of tiles and slabs are, respectively, 1,772 MJ/m 3 and 1,168 MJ/m 3. This comparison shows that tiles manufacturing has higher values of embodied energy and environmental performance indicators. The value of the Custonaci slabs is reasonable compared to the Carrara marble (mainly slabs), and the embodied energy value of which is between 698 MJ/m 3 and 1,414 MJ/m 3. The main contribution to the energy consumption is due to electricity demand: 80% for tiles and 75% for slabs. Moreover, a comparison with the European type I Ecolabel criteria for natural hard floor coverings has been carried out to understand the range of the environmental impacts of Perlato di Sicilia compared to the thresholds reported in European Decision 272/2002. Conclusions, recommendations, and perspectives: This study is the first LCA of a typical Sicilian marble. The environmental interventions of the Custonaci marble appear to be slightly higher than Carrara marble. The nature of Custonaci marble and the technology involved in its production have reached the same performance level as in Carrara. Nevertheless, Custonaci marble is on the way to being an environmentally friendly product, as is shown by the comparison with Ecolabel criteria. The hot spots determined in this study are: the amount of spoils produced during the extraction step, the disposal of sludge resulting from cutting and...

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confidence: 99%

Environmental performance of building materials: life cycle assessment of a typical Sicilian marble

Traverso

Rizzo

Finkbeiner

2009

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…The use phase is not included in the results, because the impacts are similar for all insulation materials (Schmidt et al 2004). In addition, the correct insulation of buildings allows considerable energy savings, which in short time compensate the environmental impact of the manufacturing process, independently of the material used.…”

Section: The Raw Materials: Waste Petmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The functional unit concept also encompasses attributes such as durability, stability, maintenance and replacement. Murphy and Norton (2008) define the time horizon at 60 years in the UK, Schmidt et al (2004) andKrähling et al at 50 years, AKPU (2002) at 25 years. In this study, the time horizon for the assessment is assumed at an average duration of buildings for 60 years.…”

Section: Use Phase and End Of Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Binder and impregnation oil are added to achieve requested and desired technical properties. The thermo-physical proprieties are λ equal to 0.032 W/mK, density equal to 37 kg/m 3 (Schmidt et al 2004); & Polyurethane insulation panels: they have the particularity to be supplied with various types of facings depending on the type of application and the required Impact category GWP100 Acidification Photochemical oxidation Eutrophication GER PET thermal insulation 2 1 1 3 3 EPS 4 4 2 5 5 Kenaf 3 5 3 4 2 Stone wool 1 2 5 1 1 Polyurethane foam 5 3 4 2 4 The result is summarized in Table 9, according to the functional unit.…”

Section: Comparative Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recycling in buildings: an LCA case study of a thermal insulation panel made of polyester fiber, recycled from post-consumer PET bottles

Intini

Kühtz

2011

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Background, aim, and scope The interest in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling is quite recent, but it has been growing steadily over the past few years. In this context, the aim of this paper is to assess the eco-profile, the energy savings and the environmental benefits of the use of recycled raw materials to manufacture products for thermal insulation of buildings in Italy (i.e., PET bottles postconsumer). Materials and methodsThe life cycle analysis is developed according to ISO 14040/44. In this paper, based on the LCA, the main types of environmental impact of a thermal insulation product have been outlined. This study is specifically focused on polyester nonwovens, produced by a company located in Italy. The cradle-to-gate life cycle inventory is performed for the mass of product needed to give a thermal resistance R of 1(m 2 K/W). The calculation of the impacts is done with SimaPro software. With an environmental product declaration-oriented approach, a set of impact categories is used for the classification and characterisation of the life cycle impact assessment. Results The results of the impact assessment for 1m 2 K/W of thermal insulation panels made with recycled PET are then compared with similar products made with virgin PET. The lower impact associated with the recycled PET for each category is underlined: the percentage reduction is around 46% in the GWP category. In the production process, the fiber-spinning phase results as the most relevant in terms of energy consumption. In addition, the energy saved when applying the thermal insulation in a building is estimated at 87 MJ/m 2 per unit area per year in Rome. All the energy used during the production of a thermal insulation panel is recovered in about 2 years. Conclusions The product shows significantly low environmental impacts thanks to the use of non-virgin PET, thus maintaining high mechanical and physical properties. If the recovery of PET from separate waste collection in Italy increases, this would reduce the share of waste PET purchased from foreign countries and would therefore reduce further the impact of transports for the production of the thermal insulation panel under investigation.

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“…This approach is equivalent to the one used by Schmidt et al [27]. This FU choice allows us to cope with the multi-functionality of the systems and allows us to compare bio-and fossil-based products.…”

Section: Functional Unitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource Usage Strategies and Trade-Offs between Cropland Demand, Fossil Fuel Consumption, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions—Building Insulation as an Example

2016

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Bioresources are used in different production systems as materials as well as energy carriers. The same is true for fossil fuel resources. This study explored whether preferential resource usages exist, using a building insulation system as an example, with regard to the following sustainability criteria: climate impact, land, and fossil fuel demand. We considered the complete life cycle in a life cycle assessment-based approach. The criteria were compared for two strategies: one used natural fibers as material and generated production energies from fossil fuels; the other generated production energies from bioenergy carriers and transformed fossil resources into the insulation material. Both strategies finally yielded the same insulation effect. Hence, the energy demand for heating the building was ignored. None of the strategies operated best in all three criteria: While cropland demand was lower in the bioenergy than in the biomaterial system, its fossil fuel demand was higher. Net contribution to climate change was in the same range for both strategies if we considered no indirect changes in land use. Provided that effective recycling concepts for fossil-derived insulations are in place, using bioresources for energy generation was identified as a promising way to mitigate climate change along with efficient resource use.

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A comparative Life Cycle assessment of building insulation products made of stone wool, paper wool and flax

Cited by 102 publications

References 10 publications

Environmental performance of building materials: life cycle assessment of a typical Sicilian marble

Environmental performance of building materials: life cycle assessment of a typical Sicilian marble

Recycling in buildings: an LCA case study of a thermal insulation panel made of polyester fiber, recycled from post-consumer PET bottles

Resource Usage Strategies and Trade-Offs between Cropland Demand, Fossil Fuel Consumption, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions—Building Insulation as an Example

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