Tech-Fab Europe publishes LCA study on glass fiber fabrics

Source | Tech-Fab Europe

Tech-Fab Europe (Frankfurt, Germany), the association for European technical textiles producers and a member of EuCIA (Brussels, Belgium), has published a life cycle assessment (LCA) study on glass fiber fabrics. This publication clearly highlights the environmental benefits of building a strong European supply chain for these products, citing that a robust glass fiber supply chain is essential to enable European manufacturers to create sustainable composites solutions for numerous markets.

The new report, “Life cycle assessment of glass fibre fabrics,” was produced as part of a Tech-Fab Europe project to develop association-level LCAs of key technical textiles products. The cradle-to-gate analysis was performed by PwC. Tech-Fab Europe’s members represent approximately 95% of the European production of glass fiber fabrics.

The study revealed a few key findings:

• From raw material extraction to the factory gate, producing 1 kilogram of glass fiber fabric in Europe generates, on average, greenhouse gas emissions of 2.21 kilograms of CO2eq and a primary energy demand of 39 megajoules.

• The majority of the impact is driven by the production of glass fiber, which accounts for 89% of the carbon footprint of the final product.

• European composites manufacturers can significantly reduce their environmental impacts by using glass fiber fabrics produced in Europe.

“From wind energy, construction and automotive, to sports and leisure and more, composite products based on glass fiber fabrics are enabling numerous industries to decarbonize in line with EU net-zero targets,” explains Rémi Bagard, glass fiber fabrics expert and member of the Tech-Fab Europe Sustainability Working Group. “This LCA further demonstrates the sustainability of Europe’s glass fabric industry and reinforces the need to support its continued growth and competitiveness. Our customers can also feed this data into their own LCA calculations as they strive to design more sustainable composite products.”

The report can be requested by emailing communication@tech-fab-europe.eu.