A COMPARATIVE LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING INSULATION PRODUCTS MADE OF STONE WOOL, PAPER WOOL AND FLAX PART 1: BACKGROUND, GOAL AND SCOPE, LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY, IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND INTERPRETATION

Preamble. Insulation of buildings is an important technology for saving heating energy and for a sustainable development. The results of a comparative LCA study of three insulation products applied for roof insulation are summarised in two parts. The products selected are based on HT stone wool representing traditional products – flax representing crop grown products and paper wool representing recycled products, respectively. Although the three materials have vastly different life cycles, they yet fulfil the same function; the methodology used should be of general interest. Part 1 of the paper contains the project background, the goal and scope definition and three life cycle assessments for the three individual products, with a detailed inventory analysis, impact assessment, sensitivity analysis and interpretation. The actual comparison of the results from the three individual life cycle assessments is presented in Part 2. An attempt is made to answer the question of whether the biological products flax and paper wool are more environmentally preferable than the mineral product stone wool representing more traditional insulation materials. In general, paper wool has the lowest global and regional environmental impacts, and flax insulation the highest, with stone wool falling in between. A notable exception is the total energy use, where stone wool has the lowest consumption followed by cellulose and flax. The study also addresses occupational health issues using an approach similar to that for risk assessment. Here, the less biopersistent HT stone wool products are seen to be the safest alternatives, because of a low potential for exposure, sufficient animal testing, and the obvious absence of carcinogenic properties. It must be recognised that insulation of buildings saves more than 100 times the environmental impacts associated with the production and disposal of the products used for insulation. Compared to that and the inherent uncertainties in the LCA, the differences between the investi- gated products are of minor environmental significance. Therefore, the main conclusion demonstrated in the study is that the quality and fitness of an insulation product is the most important aspect in the life cycle of insulation materials. Abstract Insulation of buildings in order to save heating energy is an important technology for enabling sustainable development. This paper summarises the results of a comparative LCA study according to ISO 14040 standard series of HT stone wool, flax representing crop grown products and paper wool repre- senting recycled products applied for roof insulation. As the three materials have vastly different lifecycles, yet fulfil the same function cycles, the methodology used should be of gen- eral interest. Part 1 consists of the project background, goal and scope definition, a detailed life cycle inventory analysis with sensitivity analysis, impact assessment and interpretation. The actual comparison of the results from the life cycle assess- ments of the three products, in which an attempt is made to answer the question of whether the biological products flax and paper wool are more environmentally preferable than the mineral product stone wool representing more traditional in- sulation materials, is discussed in Part 2.