Sustainability Through Specification
Reducing Carbon Footprints for Western Architects
by Justin Koscher, President of the Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association
The construction industry is making strides towards a net-zero future. Architects and designers who live and work in the Western United States, for example, are increasingly employing high-performance materials in building envelopes and adopting smart technologies to harvest energy from renewable resources, all in a bid to create more energy-efficient structures. So far, these professionals have a strong grasp of operational carbon and are actively working to mitigate it by meeting modern building standards and energy code requirements. However, embodied carbon, emissions related to the production of building materials, has received less attention until now.
In 2018, the manufacturing of building materials alone accounted for 11% of global energy and process-related emissions. While stark, these numbers highlight a pathway to further reducing carbon emissions from the built environment. This puts opportunity with architects in the West to make meaningful reductions at scale and in time through conscious material selection for a more sustainable future.
Environmental Protection Declarations
In line with global efforts to mitigate carbon emissions, many Western professionals are leaning on guidelines outlined by progressive policies like California’s Building Energy Efficiency Standard, Title 24. Under this updated regulation, commercial projects over 100,000 sq.ft. and school buildings over 50,000 sq.ft. in California are now required to follow one of the three compliance pathways related to building material decarbonization, including a prescriptive approach using Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for specified materials.
As more Western states follow California’s lead and adopt similar regulations, making conscious choices to reduce embodied carbon through material selection and specification, it has become an increasingly critical part of the design process.
Polyiso: More Than Just Its R-Value
To reduce their buildings’ carbon footprints, Western architects employ polyiso insulation’s thermal resistance properties in wall assemblies, roofing systems, and below-grade applications. With its high R-values per inch, polyiso increases the thermal efficiency of a building envelope even in extremely cold regions like Alaska and Wyoming.
Polyiso not only helps mitigate operational carbon but also embodied carbon. The Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association (PIMA) plays a crucial role in these efforts by publishing third-party verified, ISO-compliant EPDs. These documents provide industry-averaged environmental impact information for polyiso products manufactured across the United States and Canada.
PIMA’s cradle-to-grave reports cover the full product life cycle of polyiso insulation over a 75-year building service life, as specified in the Product Category Rule for building envelope thermal insulation. The life-cycle assessment includes environmental impacts from the supply and transport of raw materials as well as the manufacture, transport, installation, replacement, and disposal of polyiso products.
With each polyiso product designed to meet the performance requirements of specific building envelope applications, PIMA has issued separate EPDs for polyiso roof insulation with glass fiber-reinforced felt facers and polymer-bonded coated glass facers, polyiso wall insulation with glass fiber reinforced aluminum foil facers, and high-density polyiso cover boards manufactured with polymer-bonded coated glass facers. These reports provide one piece of the sustainability puzzle, making it possible for Western architects to make environmentally conscious decisions during the specification process.
Polyiso’s Conscious Manufacturing
Along with transparency, polyiso manufacturers approach their production process with consciousness. After all, the raw materials used in a product significantly influence a product’s life cycle environmental impacts. For instance, closed-cell insulation products similar to polyiso typically utilize blowing agents to increase thermal resistance and facilitate the manufacturing process. However, these agents come with a global warming potential (GWP).
To deliver a more environment-friendly product, polyiso manufacturers in North America carefully select raw materials. They have long used pentane or pentane blends in their product formulations to eliminate harmful substances like chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or hydrofluorocarbons from the process. As a result, the hydrocarbons used in polyiso manufacturing exhibit zero ozone-depletion potential and a GWP value of less than one.
In recent past, the United States and Canada have implemented regulations that prohibit the manufacturing, import, or sale of foam plastic insulation products with higher-GWP substances. Polyiso’s conscientious manufacturing ensures compliance with such forward-thinking climate policies. Consequently, Western architects can continue to specify polyiso with confidence in its performance and environmental scorecard.
Key Considerations For Western Architects
Forward-thinking materials like polyiso contribute to a building’s immediate energy savings while also advancing long-term environmental goals by reducing its overall carbon footprint. The EPD for polyiso roof insulation underscores the products’ energy and carbon-saving potential, particularly in roof replacements for existing buildings.
Emphasizing this impact, Natalie Tobey, Product Marketing Manager of Insulation of EPDM and FleeceBACK at Carlisle® Construction Materials LLC said, “An analysis within the polyiso roof insulation EPD highlights that professionals can quickly offset the initial environmental impact of polyiso’s manufacturing process by the substantial energy savings realized when the product is utilized in their roof replacement projects. This swift recouping makes polyiso a sustainable and efficient insulation choice for forward-thinking Western architects.”
In the larger context, making conscious and well-informed material choices is essential for enhancing building performance. However, validating a material’s environmental impact through prescriptive tools like EPDs is equally crucial for Western architects looking to meet environmental responsibility and comply with green-building codes like California’s Building Energy Efficiency Standard/Title 24. Such a balanced, vigilant approach is vital for establishing high sustainability standards and reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment.
