Climate change and the Rockwool impact
Life on earth depends on a temperature interval of only a few degrees. Every year we see even small changes in global temperature having drastic consequences for our climate and living conditions.
Our excessive combustion of fossil fuels puts exorbitant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. High levels of CO2 mean heat from the earth is retained in the atmosphere thus accelerating the ‘green house effect’ and global warming. Gases such as N2O, CH4 and fluorine gases further add to global warming. The last decade has produced a series of troubling records in average global temperature. Records that are unprecedented in the history of temperature recording.
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the average temperature is expected to increase 1-5°C over the next century. Global warming means more extreme weather conditions: growing risk of windstorms, flooding, heat waves and desertification. Glaciers and inland ice are melting and retreating rapidly. Islands will be submerged. In other regions global warming nourishes malaria habitats.
CO2 emissions must be reduced by 60-80% before 2050 if the average global temperature is ‘only’ to increase by 2ºC. The consequences of a more extreme climate can be devastating.
The impact of our products
Rockwool insulation is one of the major CO2 savers. A 250 mm Rockwool loft insulation product will, over 50 years use in a Danish building, save 162 times more CO2 than was used for its production, transport and disposal. The CO2 balance switches to positive 4 months after installation. This year’s sale alone of Rockwool insulation will, over 50 years, save more than 100 million tonnes of CO2.
Energy & CO2 effi ciency - we cannot afford not to!
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In many countries there is a misconception that CO2 savings might block the economic growth urgently needed by billions of people around the world. Yet in fact, today’s excessive energy use and CO2 emissions can be reduced markedly with an economic gain. According to the IPCC, greater energy effi ciency in buildings and industry worldwide could cut CO2 emissions by more than a billion tonnes a year. The bulk of these CO2 savings will even be profitable.
In the EU-15 alone, as new Ecofys studies show, not just 400 million tonnes of CO2 but also €102 billion could be saved every year if all buildings undergoing renovation were brought up to modern energy standards. This is more than twice the annual capital costs for the investment.
Better insulation of both old and new buildings, and of thermal processes, can thus save more CO2 emissions than are required by the EU Kyoto Protocol commitment, while at the same time improving quality of life.
The climate is getting warmer and the effects of global warming and climate change can be devastating. The graph above shows the projected changes in global temperature with different green house gas emission scenarios. Source: University of East Anglia & IPCC.
The impact of our production
CO2 comprises approximately 82% of the Rockwool Group’s total greenhouse gas emissions. N2O, mainly from curing oven afterburners and from cupola ovens, constitutes 18%, whereas CH4 comprises less than 0.1%. Other green house gasses (e.g. fluorine carbons) are negligible.
Since 2001 the Group’s CO2 emissions per production unit have been reduced by 6%. This is the result of our improved energy efficiency and the increased use of low CO2 emitting fuels.
