scholarly journals Impact of the Degree Days of the Heating Period on Economically and Ecologically Optimal Thermal Insulation Thickness

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Robert Dylewski ◽  
Janusz Adamczyk
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Heat Source ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Heating Period ◽  
Degree Days ◽  
Ecological Analysis ◽  
Ecological Benefits ◽  
Insulation Thickness

The article proposes methods for determining the optimal thermal insulation thickness for economic and ecological reasons, depending on the number of degree days of the heating period. Life cycle assessment was used for the ecological analysis. Analyses were performed for selected variants typical of Polish conditions. The optimal thermal insulation thickness as well as the amount of economic and ecological benefits depends very much on the condition of the building without thermal insulation, but also on the heat source used and the thermal insulation material to be used. For each variant, the optimal thermal insulation thickness for ecological reasons is much greater than the optimal for economic reasons. Taking into consideration the climatic zone and the associated number of degree days of the heating period, the colder the zone, the greater the optimal insulation thickness, as well as economic and ecological benefits.

scholarly journals Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment of Economically Optimized Thermal Insulation Materials for Different Climatic Region in Iraq

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.37) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Murad Saeed Sedeeq ◽  
Shadan Kareem Ameen ◽  
Ali Bolatturk
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Expanded Polystyrene ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Insulation Materials ◽  
Climatic Regions ◽  
Damage Categories

Environmental pollution is one of the biggest problems facing the world, even it is the most dangerous. Therefore, it becomes necessary to combine all efforts to reduce or eliminate it. Iraq is at the forefront of countries that suffer from major environmental problems. The present study aims to perform a comparative environmental assessment for three commonly available thermal insulation materials in Iraq namely expanded polystyrene (EPS), extruded polystyrene (XPS), and rock wool (RW) to select least environmental impact material. A cradle to gate life cycle assessment is performed to assess the environmental impact of each insulation material taking into account manufacturing, transportation, and installation and disposal stages. A life cycle assessment program SimaPro is used to model thermal insulation materials during its life cycle. A life cycle impact analysis method CML 2001 has been selected to assess the environmental aspects associated with two global damage categories as ozone layer depletion and global warming and two regional damage categories as acidification and eutrophication. Economically optimized amount of each insulation material is selected to represent the functional unit of life cycle assessment. The results illustrate that the EPS has the lower contribution in all environmental impact categories for all climatic regions. So, the EPS can be select as a proper thermal insulation material for the building sector from an economic and environmental perspective. The results of LCA are used to determine the amount of CO2 can be reduced per meter square of the exterior wall by using the economical amount of EPS during the lifetime of insulation material. The environmental impact results show that using EPS will contribute in CO2 emission reduction at about 81.5 % in all climatic regions in Iraq. 

Comparative Study on Life Cycle Assessment for Typical Building Thermal Insulation Materials in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 787 ◽  
pp. 176-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Ping Ma ◽  
Quan Jiang ◽  
Ping Zhao ◽  
Chun Zhi Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Heat Conductivity ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Insulation Materials ◽  
Volume Weight ◽  
Rock Wool

Studies on life cycle assessment of three typical building thermal insulation materials including polystyrene board, rock wool board, and rigid foam polyurethane board related to building energy-saving were carried out. Based on the method of life cycle assessment, "1 kg of thermal insulation material" is first selected as one of the functional units in this study based on the production field data statistics and general market transaction rules of the thermal insulation materials, and life cycle resource consumption, energy consumption and exhaust emission of the three products in China are deeply surveyed and analyzed. The abiotic depletion potential (ADP), primary energy demand (PED), and global warming potential (GWP) for production of 1 kg of the three thermal insulation materials are calculated and analyzed. Furthermore, the functional unit is extended to be "1 m2 of thermal insulation material meeting the same energy-saving requirements" so as to compare the difference of environmental friendliness among the three building thermal insulation materials, and the corresponding life cycle environmental impact is also calculated and analyzed. As shown by the results, where calculated in unit mass, the order of production life cycle environmental impact significances of the thermal insulation materials is as follows: rock wool board < polyurethane board < polystyrene board. However, where calculated in unit area (m2) meeting the 65% energy-saving requirements, the production life cycle environmental impact significances of the three kinds of insulation materials are sorted as polystyrene board < polyurethane board < rock wool board, whatever the region is, which is opposite with that of the results for the insulation materials in unit mass (kg). The reason for such difference is that they have different volume weights and heat conductivity coefficients. The polystyrene board has a smaller volume weight and the smallest heat conductivity coefficient, whereas the rock wool board has the highest volume weight and heat conductivity coefficient. Source of the project fund. Subject "the Research and Application of Life Cycle Assessment Technology to the Building Materials for Building Engineering in Typical Regions" of the National Science & Technology Pillar Program during the Twelfth Five-year Plan Period (No.: 2011BAJ04B06)

Life Cycle Assessment of External Thermal Insulation Composite System Based on Rock Wool Board

2014 ◽  
Vol 599 ◽  
pp. 315-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhu Li ◽  
Xian Zheng Gong ◽  
Zhi Hong Wang ◽  
Yu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Composite System ◽  
Pollutant Emission ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Environmental Load ◽  
Analysis And Evaluation ◽  
External Wall ◽  
Rock Wool

Although external wall thermal insulation layer protects the major structure effectively and is capable of the prolonging of the service life of the structure, building thermal insulation material production brings environmental impact in some degree. In this research, quantitative analysis and evaluation of resources consumption and pollutant emission caused by materials on external wall were carried out based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The results show that, the environmental load brought by rock wool board production has a decisive influence on the total environmental load of the external thermal insulation system production.

scholarly journals Life-Cycle Assessment of Alternative Envelope Construction for a New House in South-Western Europe: Embodied and Operational Magnitude

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 4145
Author(s):  
Helena Monteiro ◽  
Fausto Freire ◽  
John E. Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
Insulation Thickness ◽  
Western European

The building envelope is critical to reducing operational energy in residential buildings. Under moderate climates, as in South-Western Europe (Portugal), thermal operational energy may be substantially reduced with an adequate building envelope selection at the design stage; therefore, it is crucial to assess the trade-offs between operational and embodied impacts. In this work, the environmental influence of building envelope construction with varying thermal performance were assessed for a South-Western European house under two operational patterns using life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Five insulation thickness levels (0–12 cm), four total ventilation levels (0.3–1.2 ac/h), three exterior wall alternatives (double brick, concrete, and wood walls), and six insulation materials were studied. Insulation thickness tipping-points were identified for alternative operational patterns and wall envelopes, considering six environmental impact categories. Life-cycle results show that, under a South-Western European climate, the embodied impacts represent twice the operational impact of a new Portuguese house. Insulation played an important role. However, increasing it beyond the tipping-point is counterproductive. Lowering ventilation levels and adopting wood walls reduced the house life-cycle impacts. Cork was the insulation material with the lowest impact. Thus, under a moderate climate, priority should be given to using LCA to select envelope solutions.

scholarly journals THE INFLUENCE OF THE METHOD OF LAYING PIPELINES ON THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF THE HEATING NETWORK

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
E. A Biryuzova ◽  
A. S Glukhanov
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Heat Loss ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Temperature Fields ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Design Work ◽  
Heat Networks ◽  
Insulation Thickness

Through pipelines of heat networks, due to their large length, a large amount of thermal energy is lost. Identification of technical solutions related to improving the energy efficiency of heating networks is an urgent task at present. The article is devoted to the consideration of options for laying pipelines of heat networks during design work. In the conducted studies, two main methods of underground laying of pipelines of heat networks with the choice of the most energy-efficient, with minimal losses of thermal energy are considered. Channel and channelless laying methods are investigated with the same design features and technological conditions of operation of pipelines of heat networks using the same thermal insulation material. For each option, the required thickness of the thermal insulation is determined by the normalized density of the heat flow, thermal calculations are performed to determine the heat loss and the value of the temperature fields generated around the operating pipelines of the heat networks. The obtained values of the thermal insulation thickness in the channel method of laying pipelines are 30-50 % lower than those in channelless laying. The heat loss values, according to the results of the heat calculation for the options under consideration, in the channel method of laying are reduced by 47-65 %. The temperature fields formed around the pipelines of thermal networks with channelless laying significantly exceed the natural value of the soil temperature at the depth of the pipeline. What has a great influence on the determination of the distance to adjacent pipelines and other utilities, laid underground, in the zone of the thermal network. A comparative analysis of the results obtained makes it possible to single out the choice of the method of laying the pipeline into a group of measures aimed at energy saving and increasing energy efficiency in heating systems.

LCA of Fibre Flax Thermal Insulation

2016 ◽  
Vol 824 ◽  
pp. 761-769
Author(s):  
Karel Struhala ◽  
Zuzana Stránská ◽  
Jiří Sedlák
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Production Facility ◽  
Chemical Additives ◽  
Fibre Flax ◽  
Gate System ◽  
Cradle To Gate ◽  
Main Components

This paper brings readers a study of Life-Cycle Assessment of thermal insulation panels made of the stems of fibre flax. This study uses cradle-to-gate system boundaries, which means that only growing and harvesting of flax and subsequent processing and manufacturing of the insulation material are included in the assessment. Transport between the facilities is also included, because it has significant impact on the results - the production facility is located in Czech Republic, but thanks to the costs main components (fibre flax stems and chemical additives) are grown or produced in various countries around the globe. The paper shows that production of such insulation material has environmental impacts comparable with other insulation materials. Conclusion of the paper includes discussion about share of individual parts of the production process (growing, harvesting, transport, processing and manufacturing) on the overall results and recommendations of changes that would lead to decrease the overall environmental impacts.

Life Cycle Assessment of a Reflective Foil Material and Comparison With Other Solutions for Thermal Insulation of Buildings

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Desideri ◽  
S. Proietti ◽  
F. Zepparelli ◽  
P. Sdringola ◽  
E. Cenci
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽  
Production Phase ◽  
Reflective Foil

In the last twenty years, the exploitation of non-renewable resources and the effects of their applications on environment and human health were considered central topics in political and scientific debate on European and worldwide scale. This kind of resources have been used in different sectors, as energy systems, technological research, but also in private/public buildings and production of consumer goods, involving significantly domestic and ordinary life of every human being. Studies about the effect of this exploitation carried out discouraging results, in terms of climate changes and energy sustenance; this determined a progressive approach process to a new concept of development, able to couple the qualitative standard of modern life with the respect of planet and its inhabitants. Starting from this reflection, scientific community moved towards research on alternative resources and developed a new way to conceive planning process and technical innovations, in order to exploit renewable energies and recycled materials, promote energy savings and reduce environmental pollution. In this context the present paper aims at evaluating benefits relating to different solutions of thermal insulation in building envelope. In fact a high grade of insulation ensures better comfort conditions in inner spaces, reducing energy consumptions due to heating and cooling conditioning. The paper presents the results of a detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the reflective foil ISOLIVING, conceived and produced by an Italian company. The Life Cycle Assessment methodology allows to consider all stages of the life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to the product’s disposal, in an optics “from cradle to grave.” In particular, the study takes into account the production phase of the reflective foil ISOLIVING, the installation phase, the transport of all components to the production site and also the end of life scenario of the material. The possibility to collect many detailed information about the production phase adds value to the study. The analysis is carried out according to UNI EN ISO 14040 and UNI EN ISO 14044, which regulate the LCA procedure. The LCA modeling was performed using SimaPro software application. The results of the analysis allow to make an important comparison concerning the environmental performances, between the reflective foil ISOLIVING and other types of insulating materials.

Comparative environmental life cycle assessment of thermal insulation materials of buildings

2014 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 466-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuno Pargana ◽  
Manuel Duarte Pinheiro ◽  
José Dinis Silvestre ◽  
Jorge de Brito
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Insulation Materials ◽  
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment
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