Comparative environmental life cycle assessment of thermal insulation materials of buildings

Abstract Insulation is a relevant technical solution for cutting energy consumption in buildings. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the environmental impacts and the consumption of renewable and non-renewable primary energy on the production of conventional thermal insulation materials: extruded and expanded polystyrene, polyurethane, expanded cork agglomerate and expanded clay lightweight aggregates. The comparison per functional unit of the innovative and up-to-date environmental performance of expanded cork and clay with the most common insulation materials used in Europe (the remaining three), and for the environmental categories and life-cycle stages defined in recent European standards, is presented for the first time. These results have been based on site-specific data from companies whose quality was fully characterised, and achieved through a consistent methodology that is fully described, including the modelling of energy processes and a sensitivity analysis of the allocation procedures. These “cradle to gate” results are scientifically sound since they were achieved by following the International standards for Life Cycle Assessment and recent European standards on the environmental evaluation of buildings.

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