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

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 representing 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 general 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 assessments 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 insulation materials, is discussed in Part 2.