The modern trend towards “environmental friendliness” using the example of mineral wool

Content

• What is “bad ecology”?
• Let's make the world a better place together. Employee stories
• Where does the carbon footprint lead?
• How not to “inherit”: reducing emissions

Environmental friendliness is the main construction trend of the decade, and perhaps the century. But what is this in relation to our homes? Let's figure out what a carbon footprint is, why proper insulation is so important for climate preservation, and which insulation is the most environmentally friendly.

What is “bad ecology”?

What this means today is intuitively understood by any person: dirty air, unhealthy food, bad materials. But the problem is not limited to harmful industrial emissions or landfills. There are at least 7 types of natural pollution that are difficult to localize and that significantly affect the quality of human life:

• sound pollution;
• thermal pollution;
• air pollution;
• water pollution;
• Soil pollution;
• light pollution;
• visual pollution.

And the presence of even one of the listed points already makes life unecological. Therefore, any methods that completely remove or, more simply, reduce the level of such pollution - reducing industrial and transport emissions, sound and heat insulation of buildings, the use of closed water cycles, etc. — provide an opportunity to reduce the harmful burden on the environment and increase the environmental friendliness of our existence, both locally and globally. It is important that this can be done, as they say, “here and now”: you do not need special skills and knowledge to sort garbage or choose environmentally friendly insulation for your dacha, making the house passive.

Making the world a better place together

In general, the concept of “sustainable development”, which has become the basic philosophy for countries and leading manufacturing companies, is aimed at improving the quality of life of all humanity and its harmonious development, which is impossible without serious efforts by everyone.

For such a large European company, a world leader in creating a comfortable space for people to live, work and relax, which is included in the TOP 100 largest industrial corporations in the world, sustainable development is one of the basic values.

In addition to the fact that the company tries to carry out all production cycles as consciously as possible, from the search for raw materials to recycling, Saint-Gobain strives to make the principles of the “road map” generally accepted in the construction sector, to help everyone who uses environmentally friendly products realize that these principles can become key strategic growth driver. We all need to understand that to achieve our goals we need to take action every day to make the world a better place to live.

For example, this is how it works in the lives of Russian employees of Saint-Gobain. Vitaly Mitin, senior business controller, does this:

• donated old/unused items to an organization that collects and recycles them free of charge;
• turns off the water while brushing your teeth;
• Brings used batteries to the office - special collection boxes are installed there;
• sorts and separates waste: plastic, metal, paper, glass;
• uses LED lamps instead of conventional incandescent lamps.

His colleagues also share their ways to reduce the negative impact on nature. In addition to using reusable bags, reducing resource consumption and recycling, there are also non-trivial methods.

They use an aerator on the kitchen faucet, reducing water consumption by up to 50%, buy used children's toys and things, tell children that they need to save light, water, trees in order to take care of our planet, when going to the store they use reusable fabric bags (previously , every time I went to the store I bought a plastic bag - there were approximately 350 bags / year). “Periodically (1 time / 2 years) I remove 1-2 m3 of scrap wooden pallets from the factory. I use firewood to heat the bathhouse at the dacha, then I use the ash from the firewood to fertilize the plants that we grow in the garden, and I collect metal screws and nails from boards for further scrap metal.”

By the way, the general director of Saint-Gobain in Russia, Ukraine and the CIS countries, Antoine Peyrude, also attaches great importance to the issues of environmental conservation and sustainable development both in the work of the company and in his personal life: he abandoned his personal car and goes to work by car. metro to reduce emissions into the environment, and often volunteers himself, for example, participating in cleaning beaches from plastic waste.

Mineral wool, widely used in our country for sound and heat insulation of premises, is not at all as harmless as it might seem at first, inexperienced glance. In fact, it is one of the most harmful building materials, second only to asbestos in terms of health hazards. Its fibers contain carcinogenic components, and the binding material is phenol-formaldehyde or melamine-formaldehyde resin, which releases highly toxic substances such as phenol and formaldehyde - essentially poisons for the human body. Research from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) confirms that fiber dust can cause cancer. In the USA and Europe, mortality rates among workers in factories producing fiberglass and mineral wool were studied. A significant portion of them died from lung cancer. The mechanism for developing the risk of diseases from mineral wool is as follows. Phenol is quickly absorbed into even intact areas of the skin of the human body. Almost immediately after entering the body, it begins to affect the brain and is capable of causing short-term excitation and paralysis of the respiratory center. Of course, modern mineral wool does not contain phenol in doses that cause an immediate effect, but even small proportions of this component cause a cough, headache, nausea, and loss of strength in humans. There is a delayed effect. More serious poisoning can lead to fainting, corneal insensitivity, seizures, and cancer. People who live for a long time near a source of phenol may have children with physical and mental disabilities. As for formaldehyde, according to some studies, mineral wool emits 0.02 mg of this component per square meter of its surface per hour. If we take into account the fact that in a residential area there are quite a lot of other sources of this highly toxic substance (chipboard, plywood, etc.), as well as its supply from street air, the maximum permissible concentration (0.05 mg/m³) of formaldehyde is exceeded several times! Mineral wool poses a particular threat to the respiratory system: dust from mineral fibers, entering the lungs and lingering there, can cause cancer. The degree of risk depends on the size and shape of the fibers. The most dangerous particles are those less than 3 microns thick and more than 5 microns long. By the way, this applies not only to mineral wool, but also to asbestos fiber, and to a lesser extent, fiberglass - sources of fine respirable dust that enters the respiratory tract and is not pushed back by exhaled air flows. It is not surprising that the problem of the dangers of mineral wool used as insulation in the construction of residential and office premises is of serious concern in Western countries. Workers dealing with this insulation are required by safety regulations to use sealed protective clothing, including respirators, goggles and gloves. Many foreign environmentalists are strongly in favor of banning the production and use of mineral wool altogether. Just like at one time (2005) asbestos was banned in the European Union. Finally, in our country, although belatedly, officials sounded the alarm regarding the health hazards of mineral wool. The head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onishchenko recently Fr. The head of Rospotrebnadzor emphasized that if elementary technology is violated in the production of mineral wool and construction regulations are violated, then the use of such materials can lead to very serious health consequences. At the same time, Gennady Onishchenko emphasized that there is no proper control over products in construction markets today. Therefore, buyers are left to their own devices and the risk associated with the purchase of mineral wool increases sharply. Deputy General Director Alexey Strakhov also spoke about the lack of control over the quality of building materials in a recent interview. The widespread use of glass wool and asbestos in construction during the Soviet period led to a significant increase in morbidity. “Today glass wool is being replaced by mineral wool, but the effect is the same. These materials cannot be used because they are carcinogenic! Dust from mineral wool, if frequently inhaled, causes cancer and other diseases in the human body. In addition, mineral wool releases phenol: it, like chipboard, uses phenolic resins. Today no one is monitoring this. And carcinogenic mineral wool is widely used in housing and office construction.” “The smaller the dust particles, the higher its allergenicity and the possibility of penetration into the respiratory system. Fine dust, i.e., consisting of the smallest microscopic particles, has particular allergenic activity,” explained Nadezhda Logina, candidate of medical sciences, allergist-immunologist, chief medical doctor. “This includes dust, the source of which can be, for example, asbestos and mineral wool, which are widely used in Russia as construction and insulation materials.” Candidate of Medical Sciences, pulmonologist, family doctor, associate professor of the 1st Moscow State Medical University named after. Sechenov Dmitry Vinogradov also expressed serious concerns. “For example, a house was renovated with mineral wool insulation, and after a while patients began to experience clinical manifestations,” commented Dmitry Vinogradov. – “Microparticles released over time during the destruction of mineral wool settle in the lungs and are allergens leading to the formation of diseases such as dermatoses, obstructive and chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma and others. Bacterial and fungal infections may be superimposed on this background. Recent studies confirm that the development of cancer is also possible.” “Society suffers losses due to the fact that we pay very little attention to environmental factors, including those inside the home, that adversely affect our health. 20% of married couples in the country are infertile, 10-15% of births are premature, the number of defects in newborns and perinatal mortality is growing,” explains Evgeniy Zharov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, gynecologist, specialist in reproductive health, leading researcher at the Central Clinical Hospital of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to Zharov, very toxic phenol is found in small doses in some medicines, even green tea and cosmetics. But with prolonged exposure, it accumulates in the body and can lead to the most disastrous consequences. “When ‘phenolic’ houses were built, it was hoped that the next generation would live under communism in new houses, but in reality, many people still live in housing that is hazardous to their health, including in Moscow,” Zharov said. – “Phenols, dirt, dust strike the microecology of the human body, destroying beneficial microorganisms. The biocenosis is disrupted, and as a result, numerous inflammatory processes occur. Moreover, these tiny particles can be absorbed not only through the respiratory tract, mucous membrane, but also through the skin.” Environmentalists also joined the position of doctors. “Phenols and formaldehydes are the strongest carcinogens that cause malignant neoplasms and tumors,” said Sergey Avdeev, executive director of OEO Green Wave. Environmental activists have already announced their intention to conduct a series of quality checks of mineral wool insulation, which are used during major repairs in Moscow.

Where does the carbon footprint lead?

Unfortunately, 8 billion people cannot completely avoid environmental pollution. However, it is quite possible to reduce the overall burden and make life easier for both yourself and other species. Therefore, to assess such a load, an objective tool has been developed - the “carbon footprint”, which is easy to quantify and which helps to assess the potential damage to Nature from any human action.

A lot of attention is paid to reducing carbon emissions. “We have committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” says Saint-Gobain President Pierre-André de Chalendar.

The concept of “carbon footprint” (aka “carbon footprint”) was proposed in 1992 by environmental scientist William Rees: it is “the totality of all greenhouse gas emissions produced directly and indirectly by an individual over his lifetime or during the production, use and disposal of any product.” . The calculation is based on CO2, since it is the main contributor to the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted, which affect the rate of global climate change. The relationship here is the opposite - the larger the footprint, the worse it is for the environment.

Obviously, from a carbon footprint perspective, the longer an item lasts and the easier it is to recycle or dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner, the more environmentally friendly it is. On the other hand, the lower the cost of maintaining the standard of daily living, the lower the emissions (and, again, the higher the environmental friendliness). Thus, the principles of minimizing the carbon footprint, as applied to everyday life, can be formulated as follows:

• the use of durable items that are recyclable and have minimal impact on humans (for example, hypoallergenic mineral wool insulation);
• minimizing “habitual” emissions of pollutants (heat, sound, wastewater).

To implement this, the ideas of “passive buildings” have been actively developed in the world for half a century—houses that can save such an amount of internal heat (generated by people, household appliances, etc.) that they practically do not need additional heating. The carbon footprint, thanks to the use of environmentally friendly insulation for walls, floors, and roofs, is minimal.

Environmental friendliness of stone wool materials

Natural materials that have been used by humans since ancient times are considered the most environmentally friendly. Such materials are wood and stone. However, in modern construction, wood and stone in their pure form are not always suitable. Wood is not durable enough and is a fire hazard; stone in its pure form is also not suitable for building houses.

Since ancient times, man has learned to make artificial materials from stone - concrete, brick, glass. Such materials are practical, beautiful, and environmentally friendly. However, in order for the home to be warm, it is necessary to erect walls of great thickness, which makes construction costly, and the building turns out to be massive and with a small usable volume of premises.

It is now generally accepted that it is most advisable to use thermal insulation materials in construction, which have high thermal resistance and, with a small thickness, replace solid masonry in terms of thermal efficiency.

The modern construction market is replete with a variety of thermal insulation materials of various compositions. Many of them are made from organic polymers and are not always safe. Thus, thermal insulation based on polyurethane releases toxic substances isocyanates, and polystyrene foam releases styrene, which is a dangerous poison for humans. Moreover, the release of these substances occurs not only during heating, but also under normal conditions during the operation of the building.

A very dangerous substance is hexabromocyclododecane, which is a fire retardant in polystyrene foam, i.e. component that reduces flammability. The use of this substance has been recognized as dangerous by the European Chemicals Agency, which has determined that it is persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic.

Today, one of the most effective and environmentally friendly insulation materials is stone wool. This is a type of mineral wool produced from igneous rocks of the gabbro-basalt group. Stone wool has all the advantages of natural stone, such as durability, chemical resistance, lack of release of harmful substances, however, due to the fact that the finest fibers are intertwined and form many tiny pores, stone wool products have one of the lowest thermal conductivity coefficients.

Thermal insulation boards made of ECOVER stone (basalt) wool are produced using the most modern equipment from natural raw materials. Man-made waste, such as blast furnace slag, is not used to produce ECOVER materials, which significantly affects the quality and safety of the product. To impart high physical, mechanical and operational characteristics during production, a small amount of binders and modifying additives is introduced, in which the content of hazardous substances is minimal. At the heat treatment stage, these substances are almost completely removed.

Stone wool is recognized as the most environmentally friendly material. It protects well from heat and cold, is safe for health, and is recommended for use in residential premises, as well as children's and health care institutions. This is a non-flammable material that does not emit toxic gases. The high level of environmental safety of ECOVER products is confirmed by sanitary and epidemiological conclusions and an environmental certificate.