Evaluation of natural-based internal insulation systems in historic buildings through a holistic approach

Bottino-Leone, Dario; Larcher, Marco; Herrera-Avellanosa, Daniel; Haas, Franziska; Troi, Alexandra

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2019.05.139

Cited by 55 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…When assuming that all measures were applied with the accumulation under current and future predicted climate scenarios, the energy consumption for space warming could be reduced by 58% and 54%, respectively. Bottino-Leone et al [107] developed a novel evaluation method for holistic buildings, which can perfectly retain the facades' integrity with the improvement in the envelopes' thermal transmittance. The hygrothermal risks were investigated through numerical simulation.…”

Section: Building Energy Savingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Technology, Strategy and Application of Sustainable Energy Systems

et al. 2020

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The global COVID-19 pandemic has had strong impacts on national and international freight, construction and tourism industry, supply chains, and has resulted in a rapid decline in the demand for traditional energy sources. In fact, research has outlined that urban areas depend on global supply chains for their day-to-day basic functions, including energy supplies, food and safe access to potable water. The disruption of global supply chains can leave many urban areas in a very vulnerable position, in which their citizens may struggle to obtain their basic supplies, as the COVID-19 crisis has recently shown. Therefore, solutions aiming to enhance local food, water and energy production systems, even in urban environments, have to be pursued. The COVID-19 crisis has also highlighted in the scientific community the problem of people’s exposure to outdoor and indoor pollution, confirmed as a key element for the increase both in the transmission and severity of the contagion, on top of involving health risks on their own. In this context, most nations are going to adopt new preferential policies to stimulate the development of relevant sustainable energy industries, based on the electrification of the systems supplied by renewable energy sources as confirmed by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Thus, while there is ongoing research focusing on a COVID 19 vaccine, there is also a need for researchers to work cooperatively on novel strategies for world economic recovery incorporating renewable energy policy, technology and management. In this framework, the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) conference provides a good platform for researchers and other experts to exchange their academic thoughts, promoting the development and improvements on the renewable energy technologies as well as their role in systems and in the transition towards sustainable energy systems. The 14th SDEWES Conference was held in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It brought together around 570 researchers from 55 countries in the field of sustainable development. The present Special Issue of Energies, specifically dedicated to the 14th SDEWES Conference, focuses on four main fields: energy policy for sustainable development, biomass energy application, building energy saving, and power plant and electric systems.

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Section: Building Energy Savingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“…It is also worth noting that the environmental performance of solutions in simulation group 1 is better than that of group 2. Although previous studies, e.g., in [1,[22][23][24][25][26], carried out an LCA of different insulation materials, a direct comparison of the results is not possible, due to the different preconditions of the studies (e.g., assumptions, database, functional units) and to the innovative insulation materials addressed in this study (CaSi, AAC).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…However, none of these projects was especially focused on internal insulation solutions, also aiming at developing "probabilistic" approaches for the assessment of their performance from energy, economic and environmental points of view, as made in the RIBuild project.With the growing demand in the energy and climate mitigation targets, the number of LCA studies in the building field increased significantly, as shown by the recent reviews reported in [19][20][21]. Several authors focused on the LCA of various types of building internal insulation systems [22][23][24], even if the LCA application of internal insulation solutions for historic buildings is limited to fewer studies [1,25,26].Moreover, there is an increasing trend to develop and apply "probabilistic" approaches to LCA analysis, in order to fully capture the inherent uncertainties related to data quality and calculation Sustainability 2020, 12, 1535 3 of 35 methods [27][28][29][30]. Indeed, neglecting uncertainties and variabilities of various life cycle parameters and scenarios may affect the results' reliability and robustness for final decisions.In the state of the art, several studies in the building field deal with "probabilistic" approaches to LCA [31][32][33][34].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the growing demand in the energy and climate mitigation targets, the number of LCA studies in the building field increased significantly, as shown by the recent reviews reported in [19][20][21]. Several authors focused on the LCA of various types of building internal insulation systems [22][23][24], even if the LCA application of internal insulation solutions for historic buildings is limited to fewer studies [1,25,26].…”

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A Stochastic Approach to LCA of Internal Insulation Solutions for Historic Buildings

Giuseppe

D’Orazio

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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Internal insulation is a typical renovation solution in historic buildings with valuable façades. However, it entails moisture-related risks, which affect the durability and life-cycle environmental performance. In this context, the EU project RIBuild developed a risk assessment method for both hygrothermal and life-cycle performance of internal insulation, to support decision-making. This paper presents the stochastic Life Cycle Assessment method developed, which couples the LCA model to a Monte-Carlo simulation, providing results expressed by probability distributions. It is applied to five insulation solutions, considering different uncertain input parameters and building heating scenarios. In addition, the influence of data variability and quality on the result is analyzed, by using input data from two sources: distributions derived from a generic Life Cycle Inventory database and "deterministic" data from Environmental Product Declarations. The outcomes highlight remarkable differences between the two datasets that lead to substantial variations on the systems performance ranking at the production stage. Looking at the life-cycle impact, the general trend of the output distributions is quite similar among simulation groups and insulation systems. Hence, while a ranking of the solutions based on a "deterministic" approach provides misleading information, the stochastic approach provides more realistic results in the context of decision-making.Sustainability 2020, 12, 1535 2 of 35 and cultural values. For this reason, internal insulation is generally considered as a valid alternative to external insulation in order to improve the buildings' thermal performance. However, its design and application could be technically complex entailing several risks [4,5]. For instance, the risks of internal dampness, mold growth, interstitial condensation, and freeze-thaw damage may further lead to structural deterioration, aesthetical damages, and eventually a reduced service life for the whole renovation intervention. At present, there is a lack of knowledge on how to apply correctly internal insulations and handle the inherent risks. The EU project RIBuild (Robust Internal Thermal Insulation of Historic Buildings) aims to fill this gap, by investigating how and under which conditions internal insulation can be safely used [6].Regarding insulation materials and systems for historical buildings, there is a large number of products available in the market, including natural materials (e.g., cellulose, cork), conventional materials (e.g., mineral wool, glass wool, polyurethane, expanded polystyrene, insulating plaster) and other advanced materials (e.g., calcium silicate, aerated concrete) [7,8]. According to Vereecken, internal insulation systems can be categorized into three types: (i) condensate-preventing insulation systems, based on vapor-tight insulation materials or metal foil; (ii) condensate-limiting insulation systems with normal or smart vapor barrier; (iii) condensate-tolerating insulation systems with capillary act...

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“…The analysis is performed by simulation for an office building located in Belgrade (Serbia), and it allows to identify the shading solutions that most contribute to reduce heating and cooling loads, offering useful insights for renovation in similar office buildings. Bottino-Leone et al [93] present a holistic approach for the evaluation of natural-based internal insulation as a solution to reduce energy demand in historic buildings without affecting the integrity of their façades. Dynamic hygrothermal simulation and energy assessment are performed and complemented by a life-cycle assessment to calculate the environmental impacts of intervention.…”

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confidence: 99%

Editorial: Sustainable development of energy, Water and Environment Systems

Piacentino¹,

Catrini²,

Markovska

et al. 2020

Energy

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Evaluation of natural-based internal insulation systems in historic buildings through a holistic approach

Cited by 55 publications

References 26 publications

Recent Advances in Technology, Strategy and Application of Sustainable Energy Systems

Recent Advances in Technology, Strategy and Application of Sustainable Energy Systems

A Stochastic Approach to LCA of Internal Insulation Solutions for Historic Buildings

Editorial: Sustainable development of energy, Water and Environment Systems

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