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Sustainability |
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It is widely recognised
that there are four main global environmental sustainability issues:
global warming, non–renewable resource depletion, toxic pollution
and ozone depletion, and that these global issues far outweigh any
local sustainability issues in their need for immediate attention
and potential impact from inaction.
Recent studies have shown that the first three issues are essentially
one. The extraction and consumption (burning) of fossil fuels is by
far the most significant contributor to global warming, non–renewable
resource depletion and toxic pollution.
Therefore, saving energy by specifying the lowest U–value possible
and using zero ODP insulation materials are the best actions to take
in considering sustainability in the insulation requirements of a
building. A ground breaking study "Insulation for Sustainability"
has been published by BING on this and related issues. This report,
written by XCO2 connisbee is freely available from Kingspan Insulation,
see rear cover.
The Kingspan Therma zero ODP range of products
is manufactured without the use of CFCs/HCFCs and has zero Ozone Depletion
Potential (ODP). The Kingspan’s Kooltherm®
K–range of products is also available CFC/HCFC–free with zero Ozone
Depletion Potential (ODP) subject to enquiry.
 In
the past, erroneously, the relative sustainability of insulation materials
has been compared on the basis on embodied energy. It is now known
that the embodied energy of insulation materials is insignificant
compared with the energy saved by insulation over the lifetime of
a building in which it is used and so is of limited importance. However,
it is a matter of social responsibility to state the environmental
impact in the manufacture of a product, and a full Life Cycle Analysis
(LCA) rather than embodied energy is recognised as the preferred tool
to achieve this.
The first of Kingspan’s ongoing programme of LCA’s, independently
certified by the BRE, has been made for Kingspan Therma
zero ODP and a copy is available from Kingspan Insulation, see rear
cover. Kingspan Insulation Limited is the first insulation manufacturer
to publish openly such information.
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