Ekovilla Slab

Name: Ekovilla Slab
Brand: Ekovilla

Insulation batts made from sorted newsprint and cardboard with mineral fire-retardant salts — the friction-fit slab version of the blown cellulose that has insulated Finnish timber frames since the 1970s. Cellulose is about the lowest embodied carbon available in an insulant, because the fibre is a waste stream that already exists and the process is milling rather than melting: production is declared net negative once the paper’s stored carbon is counted. It is vapour-open and has high heat capacity, so it also buys decrement delay a lightweight mineral fibre cannot.

Manufacturer page

Carbon and evidence

Product Evidence

Evidence currently held for the Ekovilla product record.

Ekovilla

Recorded Carbon Result

-0.546kgCO₂e/m² at R=1

A1–A3 GWP-total per m² at R = 1 m²·K/W (39 mm of this product). Negative because the recycled paper carries more stored biogenic carbon than the milling process emits. The store is not permanent: the same declaration returns +1.81 at C3. Scale it by the R-value actually specified — a 140 mm wall is roughly 3.6× these figures — and do not compare it with a per-m³ or per-kg insulation figure. NOTE: this declaration’s A1–A3 split does not reconcile with its own total (see impacts.gwp.split.reconciliationNote); the total is recorded as declared.

Indicator: GWP-total

Ekovilla Slab (EPD-IES-0008315:002 / S-P-08315)

A1–A3 covers raw-material supply, transport to manufacture and manufacturing. It is product-stage information, not a whole-life result.

Environmental Product Declaration

EPD recorded

Coverage: Specific product
Declared unit: 1 m² R = 1 m²K/W, 39 mm, 1.560 kg
Programme: EPD International (The International EPD® System)
Registration: EPD-IES-0008315:002 (S-P-08315)
Standard: EN 15804:2012+A2:2019, ISO 14025
Valid until: 2028-07-04
Verification: Third-party verified

Ekovilla Slab produced at Kuusankoski, Finland, sold to the European market. Time representativeness 2021, ecoinvent 3.8.

Read the EPDSource: Mandatory impact category indicators table, results per functional unit, GWP rows (PDF p. 8)

Carbon profile

kgCO2e per 1 m² at R = 1 m²·K/W (39 mm) · each bar starts at zero · local scale

A1-A3 product

-0.546

A4-A5 site*

0.584

B use

not declared

—

C end of life

1.82

D reuse / recycling

-1.39

Stores more carbon than making it emits — and the stored carbon largely leaves again at end of life.

adds carbon stores or removes EPD scenario* reuse/recycling potential (D)

* EPD transport and installation scenario, not this project's. Not declared: use. The split does not sum to the declared total and the gap is far beyond rounding: 1.36 + (−2.33) + 0.00134 = −0.969 against a declared GWP-total of −0.546, a residual of 0.42 — about a third of the fossil term. The same failure appears in A5 (0.629 vs 0.374) and D (−1.962 vs −1.390), while A4, C1 and C3 reconcile exactly. The modules that fail are precisely those carrying a large biogenic term, so the biogenic column and the total appear to be on different bases in the underlying model. Both figures are physically possible — the EPD states 44.4% carbon content, capping biogenic uptake at about 2.54 kgCO2 for the 1.560 kg reference flow, and the declared −2.33 sits just inside that — so neither can be ruled out on physical grounds. The declared GWP-total row is treated as authoritative, per EN 15804 convention. Module D shows potential impacts or benefits from reuse, recovery or recycling after the product's assessed life. It is reported separately and never added to A-C. Do not compare bar lengths between materials. Each chart may use a different scale and declared unit.