An environmental impact comparison of external wall insulation types

Tingley, Danielle Densley; Hathway, Abigail; Davison, Buick

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.11.021

Cited by 91 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…More concretely, the construction solution known as the "ventilated façade" system has experienced a significant increase in use in Europe, especially the Mediterranean countries, due to both its good performance and its ease of construction and in both new buildings, especially offices and residences, and the rehabilitation of buildings [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural fiber nonwoven reinforced cement composites as sustainable materials for building envelopes

Claramunt

Fernández-Carrasco

Ventura

et al. 2016

Construction and Building Materials

110

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This experimental research analyzes the mechanical performance and durability of façade pieces based on Portland cement matrix and flax nonwovens as reinforcement. Two types of pozzolanic additions (silica fume and metakaolin) combined with nonwovens subjected to different treatments to decrease their water absorption are analyzed as potential materials for fiber-cement sheets for building envelopes with high strength and durability. For this purpose, on the one hand, the mechanical performance and chemical composition of various ternary compositions were studied. On the other hand, various treatments were performed on the nonwovens and the nonwoven-matrix adherence was also analyzed. Finally, composites were prepared from some selected treated nonwovens and matrix mixtures, and their mechanical properties and durability were evaluated under four-point bending tests after 28 days of curing in a humidity chamber and after accelerated aging. The composites developed with the treated nonwovens presented very high performance combined with enough durability to be potential candidates for the development of sustainable materials for building envelopes. Highlights-Mechanical performance and durability of OPC/flax nonwovens composites for façade pieces is explored -The effect of two pozzolanic additions combined with nonwoven treatment is evaluated -Significant improvements in the durability using treated nonwovens 3

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural fiber nonwoven reinforced cement composites as sustainable materials for building envelopes

Claramunt

Fernández-Carrasco

Ventura

et al. 2016

Construction and Building Materials

110

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“…A research examined the environmental payback periods of different insulation materials (EPS, phenolic foam, and mineral wool) by the LCA method and for 16 different environmental impacts [41]. EPS's environmental payback period is shorter than other insulation materials in 14 of these 16 environmental impacts.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic and Environmental Optimization of an Airport Terminal Building’s Wall and Roof Insulation

2017

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HVAC systems use the largest share of energy consumption in airport terminal buildings. Thus, the efficiency of the HVAC system and the performance of the building envelope have great importance in reducing the energy used for heating and cooling purposes. In this study, the application of thermal insulation on the walls and roof of the Hasan Polatkan Airport terminal building was investigated from energy, environment and cost aspects. This study determined the optimum insulation thickness and assessed its effects on environmental performance based on energy flows. Environmental payback periods were calculated depending on the optimum insulation thickness. The life cycle assessment (LCA) method was used to assess whether the decrease in energy consumption after applying the insulation balanced the environmental effects during the period between the production and application of the thermal insulation material. The global warming potential (GWP) based on IPCC100, and the effects on human health (HH), the ecosystem and natural resources were evaluated according to the ReCiPe method. LCA results were obtained by processing data taken from ecoinvent 3 database present in the Sima Pro 8.3.0.0 software. Applying thermal insulation on the walls and roof of the terminal building was found to decrease heat loss by 48% and 56%, respectively. In addition, the analyses showed that the environmental payback periods for the thermal insulation were shorter than the economic payback periods.

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“…From Table 1, it can be concludedthat the most commonly used materials in the construction industry are widely analysed in the literature, namely mineral wool (MW) [4,5,9,11,12,15,17], glass wool (GW) [4,5,9,11,12], expanded polystyrene(EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) ( [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]17] and [9,10,12,14], respectively) and polyurethane (PUR) [9,10,12,17]. Some other materials have also been addressed, but only slightly, such as polysocyanurate (PIR) [14,15], phenol formaldehyde (PF) [9,15], foam glass (FG) [9,11], cellulose (Ce) [11], eco-fibre (EF) [17], cork (C) [10], wood fibres (WF) [13,15] or aerogel (AG) [14].…”

Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some other materials have also been addressed, but only slightly, such as polysocyanurate (PIR) [14,15], phenol formaldehyde (PF) [9,15], foam glass (FG) [9,11], cellulose (Ce) [11], eco-fibre (EF) [17], cork (C) [10], wood fibres (WF) [13,15] or aerogel (AG) [14]. Among the unconventional insulation materials, it was noted that those which derive from natural products have not been widely analysed, along with some emerging materials in the construction industry, such as sheep wool or recycled cotton, which have been generally overlooked.…”

Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, their environmental or cost effect on buildings' life cycle energy demand is an emerging research area promoted by recent changes within the regulatory framework of buildings [6][7][8]. By way of example, [4,5,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], they focus on their environmental performance, while [4,5,17] also focusing on their cost performance. However, and in agreement with the conclusions from [18], the insulation thickness calculated by applying energy or environmental optimisation criteria give, in some cases, results that are 10-fold higher than those obtained using economic criteria.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental and cost performance of building’s envelope insulation materials to reduce energy demand: Thickness optimisation

Braulio-Gonzalo

Bovea

2017

Energy and Buildings

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Thermal insulation materials play an important role in the challenge of nearly zero-energy buildings thanks to their potential in reducing building's energy demand and carbon emissions. However, increasing the thickness of the insulation material in the building's envelope has implications from the energy, environmental and economic viewpoints. In this context, efforts should be made to optimise insulation thickness to balance all these aspects.This study presents a methodology to analyse optimum insulation material for the building's envelope (roof, façade and floor) and its thickness to achieve energy demand reductions in the operation phase of the building, which is based on the Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing methodologies to integrate both environmental and economic aspects, respectively. The system boundary includes the life cycle stages of product and use defined by recent European standards. A selection of eleven alternative insulation materials, both conventional and emerging ones based on natural products, were chosen to conduct the study. After applying the methodology to a single-family house in Spain and performing a sensitivity analysis, the results revealed that sheep wool and recycled cotton, jointly with traditionally used mineral and glass wool, should be promoted in the construction industry as they offer the highest eco-efficient performance among the analysed insulation materials. Reductions of up to 40% in energy demand compared to regulations standards can be achieved in theeco-efficiency context. Keywords: optimuminsulation thickness; eco-efficiency; life cycle assessment; life cycle cost; energy demand Highlights• Optimising insulation thickness for the building's envelope • Eco-efficiency analysis of life cycle and cost assessment • Sensitivity analysis by varying the building's energy demand scenarios • Emerging naturally-based insulation materials were the most eco-efficient 3

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An environmental impact comparison of external wall insulation types

Cited by 91 publications

References 15 publications

Natural fiber nonwoven reinforced cement composites as sustainable materials for building envelopes

Natural fiber nonwoven reinforced cement composites as sustainable materials for building envelopes

Economic and Environmental Optimization of an Airport Terminal Building’s Wall and Roof Insulation

Environmental and cost performance of building’s envelope insulation materials to reduce energy demand: Thickness optimisation

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