Clean by nature
The German Natural Stone Association presents a study on the sustainability of various floor coverings in public, heavily used areas.
Every year, 350 million square meters of new floor coverings are laid in Germany. In view of this enormous figure, it is only natural that their ecological footprint should also be examined. The German Natural Stone Association (Deutscher Naturwerkstein-Verband e.V.) has now presented such a study on the sustainability of various floor coverings in public, heavily used spaces. It was carried out by the Institute for Materials in Construction at the University of Stuttgart on the basis of environmental product declarations (EPD) from building material manufacturers.
Their result: “A comparison of all floor coverings showed that coverings made of natural stone have a significantly lower overall environmental impact through production, installation and use than large ceramics, carpet, PVC, laminate and parquet.” In figures, this means that the greenhouse effect (GWP), which is expressed in kilograms of CO₂ equivalent, was found to be more than 20 times higher for carpet compared to natural stone slabs. Natural stone also performs significantly better than large ceramics. Its GWP value is 10.9, while that of large ceramics is almost 70.
The reasons for these values lie in the nature of the stone. It does not have to be produced, only quarried, it does not contain any harmful substances and the by-products of its quarrying can be used in a variety of ways. Unsurprisingly, using local STEIN has less of an impact on the environment than transporting it from China, for example.
However, the study not only took into account the carbon dioxide impact on the environment during the production, transportation and installation of the floor coverings, but also the costs over a period of 50 years. This applies to the useful life of stone flooring. Carpet needs to be replaced after ten years, PVC and laminate after 20 years and parquet after 40 years. The costs for purchase, cleaning, renovation, replacement and disposal are roughly the same for natural stone slabs, ceramic tiles and concrete blocks. Only laminate and parquet are more expensive. Carpet, on the other hand, costs only half as much, even though it has to be replaced several times.
The study will be presented at the DNV stand at the BAU trade fair in Munich (January 14-19, 2019). It costs 10 euros.
Orders can beplaced at: www.natursteinverband.de