Requirements on Consumer Information about Product ... - ANEC

Consumer Information about PCF
accompanied by recommendations for the cost effective improvement of energy
performance.”
• Type I labels like the Blue Angel (e.g. for insulation material from secondary resources
and insulation material for inside application) certify a number of insulation materials.
• There is a number of EPDs of insulation materials published (e.g. foam glass, mineral
wool, mineral insulation boards). For an overview of the available EPD in Germany see
http://bau-umwelt.de 14 .
• Additionally, a variety of other labels from different organisations exist, the most
common now being the natureplus label 15 . The criteria for the natureplus label for part
of the products also encompass limits on CO2e emissions for the production phase.
As the PCF in principal covers the whole life cycle of a product, it bears the possibility to
include the reduction potential of insulation material during the use phase of a building.
However, the consideration of the use phase is difficult from the methodological point of
view.
The improvement potentials are not so much related to the different insulation materials
themselves but on the amount of insulation installed at the building. In brief: the thicker the
insulation layer, the lower the thermal energy demand and the higher the reduction potential.
Focussing only on the production phase of the insulation material, the differences can be
significant, e.g. between foam glass and wood fibre. But over the whole life cycle of the
building this difference turns out to be marginal. The important point is how much insulation
material practically can be applied: materials that insulate better have an advantage as they
can be applied in thinner layers to reach the same U-value as others that insulate less.
The variability of PCF results for different insulation materials derives from the amount of
insulation material applied by the user and the therewith reached energy standard of the
respective building. Depending on the decisions of the responsible person, the energy
standard can vary widely between the basic legal requirements and passive house standard.
As a consequence, the reduction potential of the insulation material during use phase can
differ significantly.
The effort to determine a specific PCF is always significant. Like for other products, it makes
sense to generate PCF data for exemplary products of the different types of insulation
material (e.g. glass wool, wood fibres, polystyrene) but it would be too great of a demand to
request PCF data for each single product.
14 For insulation material see:
http://bau-umwelt.de/hp545/Daemmstoffe.htm?ITServ=C1036fdb1X124d3bf7960X14ba.
15 Launched by the Internationale Verein für zukunftsfähiges Bauen und Wohnen – natureplus e.V. (see
www.natureplus.de).
46