scholarly journals Environmental burdens of External Thermal Insulation Systems. Expanded Polystyrene vs. Mineral Wool: Case Study from Poland

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Michalak ◽  
Sebastian Czernik ◽  
Marta Marcinek ◽  
Bartosz Michałowski
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Mineral Wool ◽  
Expanded Polystyrene ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Manufacturing Plants ◽  
Insulation Systems ◽  
Negative Environmental Impact ◽  
The Impact

The external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS) improves the energy efficiency of buildings, and nowadays, this method is the most popular to insulate buildings in many European Union (EU) countries. The article presents the impact of producing ETICS with expanded polystyrene (EPS) or mineral wool (MW) on the natural environment using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The data used in the calculations, related to 2017 real production, were obtained from the externally verified inventory from five manufacturing plants located in different regions of Poland. The LCA of the examined products covered modules from A1 to A3 (cradle-to-gate), according to EN 15804 standard. The study determines and analyses the values of basic indicators related to environmental impacts and environmental aspects of resource use. It comprises indicators calculated for 1 m2 ETICS for five thicknesses of the mentioned thermal insulation materials. Results show that for all environmental indicators, MW systems are characterized by a more negative environmental impact than the equivalent systems with EPS. The study aims to highlight knowledge about ETICS sustainability. The data presented in work are essential for assessment in terms of the sustainable development of ETICS. Such an evaluation is not just a need for the future but a necessity for the present.

Analysis of the Impact of Thermal Rehabilitation on the Heat Demand. Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 170-176
Author(s):  
Stan Ivan Felicia Elena ◽  
Duinea Adelaida Mihaela
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Thermal Protection ◽  
Mineral Wool ◽  
Expanded Polystyrene ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Heat Consumption ◽  
Thermal Requirements ◽  
Heat Demand ◽  
The Impact

The article presents a case study on the impact of thermal rehabilitation of buildings heat demand. In order to reduce specific heat consumption and, in general, heat consumption for heating and hot water preparation, measures are needed to rehabilitate and modernize the thermal protection of buildings and heating and hot water installations. The present study aims to determine the influence of thermal rehabilitation of buildings (insulation of exterior walls - in this case) making for this purpose a comparison of the values of thermal requirements before and after the thermal rehabilitation process for a building. Regarding the thermal insulation used in the case study, expanded polystyrene with a thickness of 10 cm was used for the exterior walls and mineral wool for ceiling. The main purpose of the work is to highlight the importance of thermal insulation of buildings mainly in terms of reducing energy costs and maintaining thermal comfort in homes

scholarly journals Environmental Footprint of Cementitious Adhesives—Components of ETICS

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 8998
Author(s):  
Sebastian Czernik ◽  
Marta Marcinek ◽  
Bartosz Michałowski ◽  
Michał Piasecki ◽  
Justyna Tomaszewska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Mineral Wool ◽  
Expanded Polystyrene ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Current Standard ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Correct Determination ◽  
The Impact

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.

Measuring the Impact of a Full Service Grocery Store in a Food Desert

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-176
Author(s):  
Kellie Schneider ◽  
Diana Cuy Castellanos ◽  
Felix Fernando ◽  
Jeanne A. Holcomb
Keyword(s):  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Food Deserts ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Food deserts, areas in which it is difficult to obtain affordable, nutritious food, are especially problematic in low-income neighbourhoods. One model for addressing food hardship and unemployment issues within low-income food deserts is a cooperative grocery store. Through the cooperative model, the grocery store can serve as a cornerstone to address socio-economic marginalisation of low-income neighbourhoods and improve the health and well-being of its residents. It is important for communities and policymakers to be able to assess the effectiveness of these types of endeavours beyond traditional economic factors such as profitability. This article uses a systems engineering approach to develop a framework for measuring the holistic impact of a cooperative grocery store on community health and well-being. This framework encompasses values that characterise the relationship between food retail, economic viability and social equality. We develop a dashboard to display the key metrics for measuring the economic, social and environmental indicators that reflect a grocery store’s social impact. We demonstrate the usefulness of the framework through a case study of a full-service cooperative grocery store that is planned within the city of Dayton, OH.

scholarly journals Child development and disability

2018 ◽  
pp. 195-199
Author(s):  
Richard Rosch ◽  
Michelle Heys ◽  
Hannah Kuper
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Developmental Outcomes ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Childhood Development ◽  
Developmental Potential ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Impact

Worldwide, many children do not meet their developmental potential. This is particularly the case in LMICs and especially affects children living with disability. Thus, improving developmental attainment and reducing the impact of disability has now become an integral part of many of the sustainable development goals. This chapter introduces several tools currently available to measure both childhood development, and the effects of disability. Using examples from current research in global health this chapter introduces both known effective intervention strategies that improve developmental outcomes, and highlights challenges and future priorities for further research. These points are further illustrated using epilepsy as a case study, highlighting how the interaction of biomedical, psychosocial, and socioeconomic factors impacts on childhood development.

Influence of EPS, mineral wool and plaster layers on sound and thermal insulation of a wall: a case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 62-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kestutis Miskinis ◽  
Vidmantas Dikavicius ◽  
Andrius Buska ◽  
Karolis Banionis
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Mineral Wool

scholarly journals Impact resistance of external thermal insulation systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 08004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Sudoł ◽  
Dawid Dębski ◽  
Renata Zamorowska ◽  
Barbara Francke
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Impact Resistance ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
Insulation Material ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Composite Systems ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Insulation Systems ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Fibre Mesh

In the paper the results of an experimental program intended to determine factors influencing the impact resistance of the External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS) were presented. For the research the systems based on polystyrene have been chosen. The insulation material was faced with a rendering consisting of base coat reinforced with standard or armored glass fibre mesh and silicone or silicone-silicate binders as finishing coats. The influence of various renderings components was evaluated with respect to resistance to hard body impact and resistance to hail. The test results were discussed in the context of the possible impact level on ETICS in use.

scholarly journals Retrofitting Buildings: Embodied & Operational Energy Use in English Housing Stock

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (15) ◽  
pp. 1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adnan Hossain ◽  
Monjur Mourshed
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Mineral Wool ◽  
Energy Model ◽  
Expanded Polystyrene ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Insulation Materials ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sheep Wool

This study is aimed at assessing the impact of the insulation refurbishment of the English housing stock on the embodied energy needed for the various refurbishment scenarios and their corresponding operational energy use reductions. An embodied energy model comprising 22 million homes has been constructed, enabling the assessment and comparison of operational and embodied energy use due to the insulation refurbishment of various applicable building elements. Results indicate that mineral wool, sheep wool and expanded polystyrene (EPS) are the optimum insulation materials for cavity walls, cold pitch roofs and warm pitched roofs, respectively.

THE EFFECT OF VERTICAL AIR GAPS TO THERMAL TRANSMITTANCE OF HORIZONTAL THERMAL INSULATING LAYER

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolanta Šadauskienė ◽  
Andrius Buska ◽  
Arūnas Burlingis ◽  
Raimondas Bliūdžius ◽  
Albinas Gailius
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Effective Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Standard Method ◽  
Mineral Wool ◽  
Insulating Layer ◽  
Air Gaps ◽  
Thermal Transmittance ◽  
Thermal Insulating ◽  
The Impact

In order to reduce the amounts of work at the construction site, single‐ply dual density thermal insulating roofing boards are used with increasing frequency for thermal insulation of flat roofs. In this case, the joints between boards are not overlapped by the other ply over it; therefore gaps of varying width form between the sides of the boards through the entire thickness of the insulating layer, whose effect on the effective thermal conductivity of the thermal insulating layer must be evaluated. The aim of this project was to assess the reliability of standard method, used to determine the impact of such air gaps on the effective thermal conductivity of the thermal insulating layer by comparing the results of calculations and the results of measurements of thermal conductivity, also to determine the correction factors for thermal transmittance of horizontal thermal insulation layers due to the forming vertical air gaps between the single‐ply mineral wool boards. After measurements of thermal resistances of 50 mm thick thermal insulation board with the air gaps which width varied from 3 mm to 20 mm, it was determined that the thermal conductivity value of the air gaps increases with the increment of the width of air gaps. After completion the experimental measurements of thermal conductivity it was determined that the height of closed and unventilated or partly ventilated air gaps has no effect on the properties of effective thermal conductivity of the thermal insulation layer when the air gap width is up to 5 mm. When wider unventilated or partly ventilated air gaps occur, the effective thermal conductivity coefficient increases proportionally as the height of the air gaps increases. Calculated according to the standard method the affix to the thermal transmittance is overly general and not always appropriate. In some cases it is 6 times higher or 4 times lower than the measured one. In this paper a method to evaluate the effects of air gaps by the use of correction factor to the thermal transmittance of the horizontal thermal insulating layer is proposed. Santrauka Nornt sumažinti darbų apimtis statybos vietoje, stogams šiltinti vis dažniau naudojamos vienu sluoksniu klojamos dvitankės termoizoliacinės plokštės. Šiuo atveju plokščių sandūros neperdengiamos, todėl tarp plokščių kraštinių susidaro įvairaus pločio plyšių, kurių įtaka termoizoliacinio sluoksnio šilumai perduoti turi būti įvertinta. Šio darbo tikslas yra įvertinti standartinio metodo, taikomo tokių plyšių poveikiui sluoksnio šilumos laidumui, patikimumui nustatyti lyginant skaičiavimo ir šilumos laidumo matavimų rezultatus, nustatyti horizontaliojo termoizoliacinio sluoksnio šilumos perdavimo koeficiento pataisas dėl vertikaliųjų oro plyšių susidarymo. Apskaičiavus 50 mm storio termoizoliacinio sluoksnio oro plyšių šilumines varžas, kai plyšių plotis yra nuo 3–20 mm, nustatyta, kad oro plyšių šilumos laidumo koeficiento vertė didėja didėjant oro plyšio pločiui. Atlikus eksperimentinius šilumos laidumo matavimus, nustatyta, kad susidarančių uždarų ir nevėdinamų arba iš dalies vėdinamų oro plyšių aukštis neturi įtakos termoizoliacinio sluoksnio šilumos laidumo savybėms, kai oro plyšys yra iki 5 mm pločio. Esant platesniems uždariems ir nevėdinamiems oro plyšiams, šilumos laidumo koeficientas proporcingai didėja didėjant oro plyšių aukščiui. Pagal standartinį metodą skaičiuotas šilumos perdavimo koeficiento priedas yra per daug apibendrinantis ir ne visada tinkamas. Kai kuriais atvejais jis yra 6 kartus didesnis arba 4 kartus mažesnis už išmatuotąjį. Šiame darbe pasiūlytas horizontaliojo termoizoliacinio sluoksnio šilumos perdavimo koeficiento priedo, naudojamo plyšių įtakai įvertinti, skaičiavimo metodas.

scholarly journals Risk Assessment and the Environmental Impact of Industrial Projects in Malaysia: A case study of SAMUR, Sabah

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 507
Author(s):  
Ezyana Anyzah Marmaya ◽  
Rohana Mahbub
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Industrial Projects ◽  
Negative Environmental Impact ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
The Impact

To ensure high performance of projects, risk factors and their impact towards the environment need to be addressed during and after the construction phase. This research aims to assess the risk factors and the impact of industrial projects to the environment and surrounding areas. The research employs multi-method strategies: this case study includes several interviews, observations, analysis of project documents and questionnaires distributed among the occupants living in the surrounding area. The results of the research indicated that the project is perceived to have negative environmental impact measured under ecosystem, natural resources, and public impact.Keywords: risk assessment, risk factors, environmental impact, industrial projects, MalaysiaISSN: 2398-4287© 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

scholarly journals Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Marine Insulation Materials

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1099
Author(s):  
Hayoung Jang ◽  
Yoonwon Jang ◽  
Byongug Jeong ◽  
Nak-Kyun Cho
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Polyurethane Foam ◽  
Mineral Wool ◽  
Expanded Polystyrene ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Human Toxicity ◽  
Insulation Materials ◽  
Marine Vessels

This study aimed to reduce the holistic environmental impacts of insulation materials proposed for the accommodation of a marine cargo ship, and suggest the optimal option for cleaner ship production, using life cycle assessment. With a commercial bulk carrier as a case ship, three major insulations were assessed, which were wool-based material (mineral wool or glass wool), expanded polystyrene, and polyurethane foam. The analysis was scoped based on ‘from cradle to grave’, while focusing on the following five representative environmental indicators: global warming potential100years, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential, and human toxicity potential. The assessment was performed in the platform of the GaBi software. The results showed that polyurethane foam would have the greatest impacts, especially in regard to global warming, eutrophication, and human toxicity. On the other hand, expanded polystyrene and wool-based material showed better environmental performance than polyurethane foam. For example, wool-based insulation was found, in terms of GWP and HTP, to produce 2.1 × 104 kg CO2-eq and 760.1 kg DCB-eq, respectively, and expanded polystyrene had similar results with respect to GWP, AP, and EP as 2.1 × 104 kg CO2-eq, 23.3 kg SO2-eq, and 2.7 kg Phosphate-eq, respectively. In fact, the research findings point out the shortcomings of current design practices in selecting insulation materials for marine vessels, while providing meaningful insights into the importance of the selection of appropriate insulation materials for marine vessels for cleaner shipping. Therefore, it is believed that this paper will make a sound contribution to enhancing future design practice and regulatory frameworks in response to environmental issues in the marine industry.

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