Durum-Wheat Straw Bales for Thermal Insulation of Buildings: Findings from a Comparative Energy Analysis of a Set of Wall-Composition Samples on the Building Scale

Abstract

The urgent need to make buildings more performant in energy and environmental terms has led to the increasing study of recycled and natural materials as viable solutions. In this context, the present study aims at comparing the energy performance of innovative wall-sample solutions (with recycled polyethylene-terephthalate panels or durum-wheat straw bales) with a basic one. Energy evaluations were performed in Piazza Armerina (a city of Sicily–Italy), where the chosen material is widespread, by applying two calculation methods: a monthly average-energy-calculation approach, mandatory by Italian regulations (UNI TS 11300), and an hourly energy-calculation procedure (EN 52016). The results documented that: (i) the new innovative wall-sample allows for significantly reducing heat loss (heating of 4–10% and cooling of 40–50%) (ii) a lower primary-energy demand was obtained by adopting the new calculation procedure of EN 52016 (energy decreasing of 20–24%); (iii) significant differences in terms of heat-loss (of 10–36%) and heat-gain (up to 75%) calculations were found for the two calculation methods. This puts emphasis upon the importance of properly selecting a calculation method by accounting for all of those key variables and features that are representative of the energy system being investigated.

Energy and Environmental Effects of Human Habits in Residential Buildings Due to COVID-19 Outbreak Scenarios in a Dwelling near Rome

“…According to this description, the energy assessment with the hourly calculation procedure should be more accurate; further studies should be carried out by varying the climatic zones and thermal properties of the building envelope [44]. According to previous papers that analysed the application of the hourly calculation procedure to different types of buildings [33][34][35][36][37][38]44], the energy outcomes significantly varied with the thermal properties of the building envelopes, use of buildings, and outdoor thermal conditions, making a comparison between these works difficult [44].…”

“…The building model of a reference case was developed and validated by adopting the new energy calculation method provided by UNI EN ISO 52016 [32], which seems to be very promising in reliability of energy performance, although only few applications can be found in the literature [33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

Integration of Energy Simulations and Life Cycle Assessment in Building Refurbishment: An Affordability Comparison of Thermal Insulation Materials through a New Sustainability Index

“…Moreover, it allows the evaluation of the following energy services for residential buildings: space heating, cooling, hot water production, and ventilation. Although the calculation method does not provide reliable results for cooling, it seems able to return comparable outcomes for space heating [19,20], allowing its use for energy incentive assessments. Many studies have highlighted the low accuracy of the calculation method, particularly when compared to the actual energy consumption of buildings [21], but EPC remains the simplest and most regulated calculation method capable of orienting national energy policy [22] although it can lead to less reliable outcomes and its consistency can be poor [23].…”