REDUCE MPG OF NEW CONSTRUCTION WITH CARBONTHERM® INSULATION

With the registration of nine Kooltherm® insulation products in the relevant application areas of the National Environmental Database (NMD), the possibility arises for architects, consultants and project developers to select Kooltherm® in an MPG calculation. And thus they can easily reduce the environmental performance of the building.

When new homes and offices are built, the Dutch Building Code requires that an Environmental Performance Building (MPG) calculation be made. The MPG is the sum of the individual environmental cost indicators (MKIs) of all materials used in the building, expressed as an amount per square meter GFA per year. The EQI is a notional value that represents the social costs required to undo the environmental impacts of the materials used. Under current legislation, there is an MPG requirement of 0.8 for homes. The goal is to gradually tighten the requirement to 0.5 by 2030 at the latest. 

National Environmental Database

An MPG calculation is made based on product data, which are in the National Environmental Database (NMD). Before registration, a life cycle analysis (LCA) is performed, which identifies all the environmental impacts of a product over its entire life cycle. Product performance also plays a role. These effects are expressed in a series of environmental indicators, which in the Netherlands are weighted and aggregated into a one-point score: the MKI.

MPG affect

"That means that at the design stage, you can influence the MPG of the building at the product level by choosing products with a low MKI score," says Frank Postma, owner of independent engineering and consulting firm Bouwvisie. "Of insulation materials, the MKI score is not very high and the influence on the overall MKI score is also limited, with a maximum of 15%. Nevertheless, it can indeed have a positive influence on the MPG of new homes and offices," Postma said.

Simple calculation

Using various calculation tools, architects, engineers and consultants can easily make an MPG calculation. Postma: "In our calculation program all the products included and categorized in the NMD are described, with the MPG score per life phase. This allows you to steer the design in a very targeted way to achieve the lowest possible MPG," says Postma. Recently, the MKI scores of the Kooltherm® insulation boards have also been registered and can now be used in calculations. 

Planet Passionate

The low MKI scores of the Kooltherm® range are also the result of Kingspan Insulation's Planet Passionate program. In it, the producer works closely with suppliers to reduce emissions throughout the chain and internally looks at how to use green energy sources as much as possible. According to Postma, this ambition ties in with the further development and tightening of the MPG. "If the MPG now mainly looks at better insulation values, thinner insulation materials on the facade and the environmental performance of materials, in the future additional and more stringent requirements will be added. For example, things like cradle2cradle, reuse and the amount of environmentally harmful materials in products are also going to play a bigger role."

Want to know more?

Find out here which Kooltherm® products are included in the NMD or contact our specialists for more information.