FEATURE
environmental effects of renovating versus replacing. The study was a cradle-to-grave assessment, which considered the whole life cycle for renovated and new flooring. This included extraction, production, and transportation of raw materials and products, installation of flooring and renovation as well as end of life management of products and waste streams.
What this research has done has made it clearer where change is needed in the flooring industry and how improvements can be made to make positive change. It confirms that renovating a resilient floor surface is significantly more sustainable than replacing it. In fact, the results show that renovation of PVC floors reduces the carbon footprint by 90% compared to replacement. The main reason is that renovation enables continued use of existing flooring by using a relatively small amount of product, as well as it is needing limited processing compared to the requirements for new flooring.
A refinished resilient floor has an impact on climate change of 1.14 kg carbon dioxide equivalents per m2. Compared to a newly installed floor that uses an average of 11.42, this produces a carbon footprint that is more than ten times lower for a renovated floor.
www.tomorrowsfm.com
The energy savings are also impressive. With renovation, the total use of primary energy resources is 15 MJ / m2, including production of raw materials, resources and trips made by the craftsman. While the installation of a new floor uses 340 MJ / m2. Thereby creating energy savings as high as 95%.
Catalyst for change Today the industry is in a strong position to take greater responsibility from an environmental perspective – to make more informed decision about resilient flooring, focusing on long-term solutions rather than a short-term fix, so collaboratively we can reduce our impact on the world.
There remain ongoing changes to make to ensure the industry is more sustainable, yet renovation is a catalyst for change; the latest eco-friendly flooring trend of going green from the ground up is set to increase in coming years as our interest in renovation across all aspects of our lives continues to grow.
www1.bona.com/en-gb/professional/installation- renovation/resilient-system/
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