Deficiencies Within CE and LCA Models: Agrowaste Fibre and Conventional Insulation Materials

Energy consumption is rising in buildings due to constantly growing populations and the rapid growth of urban building construction projects. The poor thermal management of buildings adversely affects the economy, environment, and living standards. These issues entwine with the general need to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, many researchers focus on energy efficiency in buildings through active and passive techniques using sustainable materials. Such passive techniques include agrowaste fibre insulation panels, which have received significant attention due to their environmental benefits, cost efficiency, and energy efficiency potential through satisfactory/good thermal insulation levels. However, further in-depth studies are required to understand how agrowaste fibre insulation performs within broader contexts. This chapter scrutinises the current literature on the Circular Economy (CE) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the most promising agrowaste materials, as well as the current conventional foam and plastic-based insulation. The previous studies conducted juxta positioned, fragmented, incomplete, and unrelated CE and LCA studies of each type of insulation panel rather than purposefully and holistically analysing the overall performance of conventional and agrowaste insulation from cradle to cradle or cradle to grave. Often only one or none of the methods utilised in the manufacturing, processing, disposal, and reuse of insulation phases are considered for judging which insulation type is better for the environment and energy efficiency. It is usually the thermal insulation value and cost of the raw materials used for production that determines which is chosen. This chapter has concluded that this methodology of juxta positioning LCA studies and simulation results presents an incomplete argument. An argument–which cannot be utilised—states that agrowaste fibres are or are not as preferable, from an environmental or thermally insulation perspective, as conventional insulation materials.