Wood Fibre Insulation: Unlocking Local Resources with A Multi-Criteria Decision Model for UK-Grown Species

Seminara, Paola; Bros-Williamson, Julio; Livingstone, Andrew; Hairstans, Robert

Abstract

This study evaluates the potential of UK-grown hardwood and soft-wood fibres for thermal insulation to support locally sourced, low-carbon con-struction materials. A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) framework, in-corporating availability, fibre length, fibre content, and dry wood density, iden-tified birch, poplar, sycamore, ash, and alder as top hardwood candidates. Due to reduced ash availability caused by ash dieback disease, beech was substituted. Fibre characterisation revealed that poplar had the longest fibres among hard-woods, while sycamore ranked high for availability and fibre content on the MCDM but exhibited the shortest fibres. Sycamore’s shorter fibres and alder’s limited availability suggested a blended approach could optimise insulation properties. Beech fibres demonstrated favourable length but higher bulk density, war-ranting future comparisons of insulation products made from beech versus poplar fibres to assess the impact of bulk density on thermal performance. Among soft-woods, Sitka spruce was identified as a strong alternative to larch, based on avail-ability and fibre properties.

Citation

Seminara, P., Bros-Williamson, J., Livingstone, A., & Hairstans, R. (2025, June). Wood Fibre Insulation: Unlocking Local Resources with A Multi-Criteria Decision Model for UK-Grown Species. Presented at International Conference on Bio-Based Building Materials, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: International Conference on Bio-Based Building Materials
• Start Date: Jun 17, 2025
• End Date: Jun 20, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Jun 12, 2025
• Publication Date: 2025
• Deposit Date: May 2, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 13, 2026
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 230-239
• Series Title: RILEM Bookseries
• Series ISSN: 2211-0852
• Book Title: Bio-Based Building Materials - Proceedings of ICBBM 2025. Volume 2.
• ISBN: 978-3-031-92873-4
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-92874-1_17
• External URL: https://www.icbbm2025.com/