What is a carbon footprint?
A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent.
What is a Greenhouse Gas?
A greenhouse gas is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.
How is carbon footprint calculated?
There are several factors that are used to measure carbon footprint including material production, manufacturing, use and end-of-life. For example, not all water bottles have the same carbon footprint. A water bottle that is recycled has a lower carbon footprint than one that is disposed of in a landfill.
For a better idea of how carbon footprint is calculated, and to see an estimate of what your household’s carbon footprint is visit: nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/carbon-footprint-calculator
What is included in AFT Carbon Smart™ and Carbon Smart Plus™ cellulose insulation’s footprint?
The carbon footprint for transportation of raw materials to manufacturing plants, manufacturing process, transportation to customers, customer installation, and product disposal are calculated based on the fossil fuel contribution in each step using EPA guidelines / factors.
Why is AFT Carbon Smart™ and Carbon Smart Plus™ cellulose insulation’s carbon footprint smaller than other types of insulation products?
85%+ of the raw material in cellulose insulation is recycled wastepaper which would have emitted uncontrolled carbon dioxide and methane gas when decomposing in a landfill. Recycling wastepaper reduces AFT Carbon Smart carbon footprint. In addition, cellulose insulation uses less energy to produce than other insulation materials like fiberglass and foam. Taking this a step further, AFT has committed to using a “carbon free” electric supply starting in May 2021. Finally, cellulose insulation’s end of life-cycle is more environmentally friendly than fiberglass or foam that are not biodegradable.
How does AFT Carbon Smart™ and Carbon Smart Plus™ cellulose insulation reduce carbon footprint?
Cellulose insulation, when installed properly, completely fills all open spaces in walls and attics. This creates a complete thermal and air barrier helping to lower heating and cooling bills.
What is Life-Cycle Assessment?
Life-cycle assessment or LCA is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life-cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. LCA is guided by 14000 series of environmental management standards of ISO, particularly ISO 14040 and 14044.
What is an Environmental Product Declaration?
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is defined by International Organization for Standardization 14025 as a Type III declaration that “quantifies environmental information on the life cycle of a product to enable comparisons between products fulfilling the same function.”
What is a Product Category Rule?
Product Category Rules are a set of rules, requirements and guidelines for developing
Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for one or more product categories. Many PCR exist because each category group is associated with a PCR that concentrates on the kind of environmental impacts that are unique to that group.
Who establishes the carbon footprint baseline?
AFT contracted with Sustainable Minds to prepare 3rd party validation.
What is AFT doing with this baseline quantification?
Identifying opportunities in our product life cycle to reduce our carbon footprint by sourcing raw materials closer and converting to a “carbon free” electric supply in May 2021.