New EPDs ready: Acoustic panels have a reduced carbon footprint
Consultants and clients are now able to download environmental product declarations (EPDs) for four different types of Troldtekt acoustic panels based on FUTURECEM™ cement. The life-cycle analyses show that the panels have a carbon footprint that is between 26 and 38 per cent lower than that for Troldtekt acoustic panels based on traditional cement.
The German Institut Bauen und Umwelt (IBU) has now verified and published eight environmental product declarations (EPDs) for the new Troldtekt acoustic panels based on the cement type FUTURECEM from Aalborg Portland.
The EPDs give construction industry professionals an overview of the acoustic panels’ environmental impact throughout their life cycle. The EPDs also enable comparisons with alternative solutions, thus paving the way for informed choices to be made.
“We want to be completely transparent when making our EPDs available. Therefore, we’re having separate EPDs prepared for our various products – such as the new FUTURECEM-based variants of our acoustic panels,” says Vibeke Pedersen, who heads the engineering department at Troldtekt A/S.
Reduced carbon footprint
The new EPDs show that, over the entire product life cycle, the carbon footprint of Troldtekt acoustic panels based on FUTURECEM is:
- 26 per cent lower than that of Troldtekt based on grey cement
- 38 per cent lower than that of Troldtekt based on white cement.
FUTURECEM is a type of cement that exploits the synergies between calcined clay and limestone filler. In this way, much of the fired clinker in Aalborg Portland’s cement production can be replaced, and the result is cement with a 30 per cent lower carbon footprint.
Takes account of different variants
There are eight EPDs for FUTURECEM-based Troldtekt acoustic panels because the EPDs take into account:
- the thickness of the acoustic panels (25 mm or 35 mm)
- whether the panels are painted or unpainted
- whether or not the panels are non-flammable A2 panels
The new EPDs complement the EPDs for Troldtekt acoustic panels based on traditional cement, which were published in 2021. In other words, there are now 20 EPDs in all for Troldtekt acoustic panels.
Among other things, the table shows the Global Warming Potential (GWP) — otherwise known as the carbon footprint – of unpainted Troldtekt acoustic panels (25 mm) based on FUTURECEM. When it says -1.37E+0 next to stages A1-A3, it means that the carbon footprint in these stages is -1.37 kg per square metre of Troldtekt. When it says 7.87E+0 next to stage C4, it means that the carbon footprint in this stage is 7.87 kg per square metre of Troldtekt.
Troldtekt acoustic panels are made from Danish wood and cement. Since almost the entire carbon footprint of a Troldtekt acoustic panel stems from the cement that is used in its manufacture, switching cement types makes a real difference. The production of the acoustic panels at the factory in Troldhede is based on 97.8 per cent renewable energy. During use, i.e. typically a period of 50-70 years, the cement layer in a Troldtekt panel gradually absorbs CO2 via the chemical process of carbonatisation. The life-cycle analysis documents that it helps to reduce the carbon footprint.
The above graph furthest to the left shows that it is only once the panels are disposed of after typically 50-70 years (phase C4) that the overall carbon footprint of FUTURECEM-based Troldtekt acoustic panels becomes positive. The disposal data are based on incineration, when the embodied CO2 is released. Troldtekt is looking at different recycling methods to ensure that as little of the embodied CO2 as possible is released.