Environmental Footprint of Cementitious Adhesives—Components of ETICS

Abstract

Energy saving is one of the strategic challenges facing our civilization today. Without decisive actions to reduce energy consumption, it is impossible to maintain the current standard of living. Energy consumption for heating and cooling purposes is one of the primary energy consumption sources in many countries. The external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS), which is today the most widely used solution in EU countries, increases buildings’ energy efficiency. This article investigates the impact of producing cementitious adhesives, as part of ETICS with expanded polystyrene (EPS) or mineral wool (MW), on the natural environment using the cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) method. Cementitious adhesives have a relatively low impact on most of the environmental indicators analyzed in the paper concerning other ETICS components. The paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of the environmental impact related to the production of cementitious adhesives. Knowledge of the construction products’ environmental impact is fundamental for creating reliable databases, based on which, in the future, their environmental requirements will be determined. The environmental performance of building elements is essential for the correct determination of the buildings’ sustainability.

Mechanical Properties of Polyurethane Adhesive Bonds in a Mineral Wool-Based External Thermal Insulation Composite System for Timber Frame Buildings

“…The first ETICS were installed in the 1960s in Germany and later in Switzerland and Austria [ 2 ]. The breakthrough for ETICS came in the early 1970s when, as a consequence of the oil crisis, energy prices rose, resulting in considerations concerning the need to minimise heat loss in buildings [ 3 ]. The growth dynamics of the insulation sector in Europe in the 1990s was boosted by the accession to the European Union of new countries, which, while meeting their obligations to comply with EU regulations, soon implemented energy efficiency policies.…”

“…For bonded systems and bonded systems with supplementary mechanical fixing, the adhesion of the individual ETICS layers, including the adhesive bonding to both the substrate and the insulation material, as well the shear properties of bonds are crucial in terms of fulfilment of the fourth basic requirement ‘safety in use’ [ 5 , 6 , 25 , 26 ]. Although several papers have been devoted to the properties of ETICS, looking at a wide spectrum of properties of individual components and their influence on the essential characteristics of the system [ 1 , 3 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ], including adhesive bonding [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], the authors’ attention has been directed towards cement-based adhesive systems. It has been found that bond strength between cement-based adhesive and the concrete, after 28 days under laboratory conditions, can achieve values from 250 kPa to 1000 kPa [ 31 , 33 ], while after 28 days under laboratory conditions and 2 days in water bond strength decreases to 80 kPa [ 5 ].…”

Sintering Behavior, Thermal Expansion, and Environmental Impacts Accompanying Materials of the Al2O3/ZrO2 System Fabricated via Slip Casting

“…Selected examples include sliding components, machine parts, and tools. At the same time, due to the growing awareness of the effects of anthropogenic activities on the environment, increasing attention is being focused on environmental aspects [ 28 , 29 ]. As a consequence of the pro-environmental policies of the European Union, implemented as part of the economic transition towards the circular economy (CE) [ 30 ] and the European Green Deal [ 31 ], increasing restrictions are imposed on the industry in terms of permitted levels of emissions to air, water, and soil, as well as in terms of the amount of waste generated [ 30 , 31 ].…”

Analysis of the environmental impact of the production of building gypsum using natural and flue gas desulfurization gypsum in the Polish context

“…The scientifi c literature on the environmental impact of products is extensive, but the number of publications directly related to building materials is limited (25,26). Publications on the environmental impact of building materials should be treated as an innovation in construction (27).…”