LCA results & interpretation Earthwool® Insulation Board
Scope and summary
- Cradle to gate
- Cradle to gate with options
- Cradle to grave
Application
Versatile product for thermal and acoustical applications such as: heating & air conditioning ducts, power and process equipment, boiler and stack installations, metal and masonry walls, wall and roof panel systems, curtain wall assemblies, and cavity walls.
Functional unit
One square meter of installed insulation material, packaging included, with a thickness that gives an average thermal resistance of RSI = 1m2·K/W with a building service life of 75 years.
Reference service life: 75 years when installed per manufacturer’s instructions
Reference flow: 2.19 kg of product with foil skrim kraft (FSK) facer.
A thickness of 0.0330m achieves the functional unit. (ASTM C518)
Manufacturing data
Reporting period: January 2022 – December 2022
Location: Shelbyville, IN
Default installation, packaging, and disposal scenarios
At the installation site, insulation products are unpackaged and installed. Staples may be used to install board products. The potential impact of the staples is assumed to be negligible since their use is spread out over hundreds of sheets of product; therefore, they were not included in the model.
No material is assumed to be lost or wasted. Scraps are typically used to fill corners or crevices. Plastic packaging waste is disposed (9% to recycling, 68% to landfill, and 17% to incineration), paper-based packaging waste is disposed (68% to recycling, 20% to landfill, and 5% to incineration), and no maintenance or replacement is required over the life of the building. After removal, the insulation is assumed to be landfilled. Insulation and packaging waste are assumed to be transported 100 miles for disposal.
How our product compares to previous years' results
In 2018, Knauf Insulation North America published a product-specific Type III EPD for Earthwool® Insulation Board. The 2018 EPD and this 2023 EPD both followed the UL PCR Part A and Part B for Building Envelope Thermal Insulation. The life cycle results considered for benchmarking in each EPD were consistent; the data sources were consistent as they pertained to priority of primary and secondary data sources and application of specific secondary, non-LCI data; cut-off criteria were consistently applied; and product-specific use phase and end-of-life calculations were consistently applied. To ensure comparability, the 2018 benchmark EPD results were recalculated using the most recent LCA software version and most recently updated LCI data sets, then used for benchmarking with the 2023 updated EPD. The updated FSK-faced 2018 total results from cradle to grave were as follows: global warming 5.48E+00 kg CO2-eq, ozone depletion potential 2.49E-09 kg CFC-11 eq, acidification 9.11E-03 kg SO2-eq, and eutrophication 1.24E-03 kg N eq.
Earthwool® Insulation Board results from 2023 show improvements across the global warming potential and ozone depletion potential impact categories. The next highest performing impact category was acidification, which showed only a 14% increase in impacts. The impact reductions for GWP and ODP primarily stem from A3. Differences in manufacturing activities contribute significantly when comparing the 2023 results to the 2018 results and identifying the contributors to performance improvement.
The lowest performing impact category compared (higher impact results than in 2018) was eutrophication. The biggest contributors to eutrophication are the sugars in the binder and the water used in the fiberizing step during manufacturing. More water was consumed in this step as compared to previous years.
What’s causing the greatest impacts
All life cycle stages
The manufacturing stage dominates all impact categories except ozone depletion, where the raw material acquisition stage takes precedence. The energy required to melt the glass and produce the glass fibers is the largest contributor to the manufacturing stage. The impact of the raw material acquisition stage is mostly due to the batch and binder materials. The contributions to outbound transportation are caused by the use of trucks and rail transport. The only impacts associated with installation and maintenance are due to the disposal of packaging waste, which is the smallest contributor of all the stages. At the end of life, insulation is manually removed from the building and landfilled. For all products, waste is dominated by the final disposal of the product. Non-hazardous waste accounts for waste generated during manufacturing and installation.
Raw materials acquisition and transportation
The raw material acquisition stage is the second highest contributor for most impact categories, but ozone depletion potential is almost entirely generated from this stage. The raw materials acquisition stage impact is largely due to the borax, manganese oxide, and soda ash in the batch and the sugars in the binder. Third-party verified ISO 14040/44 secondary LCI data sets contribute more than 80% of the total impacts to ozone depletion.
Manufacturing stage
The manufacturing stage has the most significant contribution to all impact categories, primarily due to the energy required to melt the glass and produce the glass fibers. Since some batch ingredients significantly contribute to the respiratory effects category, they can lead to higher impact results in the raw materials acquisition stage. However, since sand and borax are melted in the oven with the other batch materials, they are not released into the air as fine particulates. Therefore, the calculated potential impacts as shown in the results tables are likely much larger than the actual impacts in the raw material acquisition stage. This implies that the manufacturing stage may have a greater share of the impact than what is displayed in the total impacts by life cycle stage.
Distribution
Outbound transportation is the third highest contributor to smog impacts.
End of life
The end-of-life impacts are largely due to landfilling of the product after it has been removed from the building and transported to a landfill. Since materials are assumed to be landfilled at the end of life rather than incinerated or reused/recycled, no materials are available for energy recovery or reuse/recycling.
Embodied carbon
Embodied carbon can be defined as the cradle-to-gate (A1-A3) global warming potential impacts. The total embodied carbon per functional unit of FSK-faced Earthwool® Insulation Board Insulation manufactured in Shelbyville, IN is 4.60E+00 kg CO2-eq.
About 2018 results
The 2018 Transparency Report for Earthwool® Insulation Board serves as a benchmark to which the 2023 results can be compared. One impact category was used for comparison to satisfy the LEED LCA optimization credit: global warming potential. Its reduction alone can contribute towards satisfying credits under LEED. The reduction in this impact category reflects that this report is valued at 1.5 products.
How we're making it greener
Knauf Insulation North America (KINA) is committed to providing products that conserve energy and preserve natural resources.
- Our products with ECOSE® Technology contain a bio-based binder adhesive instead of a fossil fuel-based binder.
- Our fiberglass contains on average over 60% recycled glass, which requires about 20% less energy required to form glass fibers, and results in about 25% reduction in embodied carbon.
- Our glass is audited by a 3rd party to ensure biosoluble chemistry from a health and safety standpoint.
LCA results
| Life cycle stage | Raw material acquisition | Manufacturing | Transportation | Installation and maintenance | Disposal/ reuse/ recycling |
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Information modules: *Module D is also excluded from this system boundary (MND). |
(X) A1 Raw materials | (X) A3 Manufacturing | (X) A4 Distribution | (X) A5 Installation | (X) C1 Deconstruction |
| (X) A2 Transportation | (X) B1 Use | (X) C2 Transportation | |||
| (X) B2 Maintenance | (X) C3 Waste processing | ||||
| (X) B3 Repair | (X) C4 Disposal | ||||
| (X) B4 Replacement | |||||
| (X) B5 Refurbishment | |||||
| (X) B6 Operational energy use | |||||
| (X) B7 Operational water use | |||||
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SM Single Score
Learn about SM Single Score results| Impacts per 1 square meter of insulation material | 1.22E-02 mPts | 3.71E-02 mPts | 1.19E-03 mPts | 5.23E-04 mPts | 1.40E-03 mPts |
| Materials or processes contributing >20% to total impacts in each life cycle stage | Batch material and binder material production. | Energy required to melt the glass and produce the glass fibers. | Truck and rail transportation used to transport product to building site. | Transportation to landfill and landfilling of packaging materials. | Transportation to landfill and landfilling of product at end of life. |
TRACI v2.1 results per functional unit (FSK-faced Earthwool® Insulation Board - Shelbyville, IN)
| Life cycle stage | Raw material acquisition | Manufacturing | Transportation | Installation and maintenance | Disposal/ reuse/ recycling |
Ecological damage
Human health damage
Additional environmental information
| Impact category | Unit | |||||
| Carcinogenics | CTUh Comparative Toxic Units of Human cancerous toxicity Carcinogens have the potential to form cancers in humans. |
7.5% | 90.0% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 2.2% |
| Non-carcinogenics | CTUh Comparative Toxic Units of Human non-cancerous toxicity Non-Carcinogens have the potential to causes non-cancerous adverse impacts to human health. |
12.4% | 81.8% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 5.2% |
| Ecotoxicity | CTUe Comparative Toxic Units of Ecotoxicity Ecotoxicity causes negative impacts to ecological receptors and, indirectly, to human receptors through the impacts to the ecosystem. |
22.6% | 76.0% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.6% |
| Fossil fuel depletion | MJ surplus Mega Joule, lower heating value Fossil fuel depletion is the surplus energy to extract minerals and fossil fuels. |
1.20E+00 | 8.87E+00 | 1.20E-01 | 1.23E-02 | 1.33E-01 |
References
LCA Background Report
Knauf Insulation North America and Manson Insulation Products LCA Background Report (public version), Knauf Insulation North America (KINA) 2023; developed using the TRACI v2.1 and CML impact assessment methodologies, and LCA for Experts modeling software.
ISO 14025, “Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works -- Core rules for environmental product declarations of construction products and services”
ISO 21930:2017 serves as the core PCR along with UL Part A.
UL Part A: Life Cycle Assessment Calculation Rules and Report Requirements v4.0
March, 2022. PCR review conducted by Lindita Bushi, PhD, Chair (Athena Sustainable Materials Institute), [email protected]; Hugues Imbeault-Tétreault (Group AGECO); and Jack Geibig (Ecoform).
UL Part B: Building Envelope Thermal Insulation EPD Requirements, v2.0
April, 2018. PCR review conducted by Thomas Gloria, PhD, Chair (Industrial Ecology Consultants) [email protected]; Christoph Koffler, PhD (thinkstep); Andre Desjarlais (Oak Ridge National Laboratory).
2018 Transparency Report for Earthwool® Insulation Board, Knauf Insulation North America (KINA) 2018.
UL Environment General Program Instructions v2.4, July 2018 (available upon request)
Download PDF SM Transparency Report / EPD
SM Transparency Reports (TR) are ISO 14025 Type III environmental declarations (EPD) that enable purchasers and users to compare the potential environmental performance of products on a life cycle basis. Environmental declarations from different programs (ISO 14025) may not be comparable. Comparison of the environmental performance of products using EPD information shall be based on the product’s use and impacts at the building level, and therefore EPDs may not be used for comparability purposes when not considering the building energy use phase as instructed under this PCR. Full conformance with the PCR for Building Envelope Thermal Insulation allows EPD comparability only when all stages of a life cycle have been considered. However, variations and deviations are possible. Example of variations: Different LCA software and background LCI datasets may lead to differences results for upstream or downstream of the life cycle stages declared.
SM Transparency Report (EPD) 