Life cycle inventory comparison of different building insulation materials and uncertainty analysis

Su, Xing; Luo, Zhong; Li, Yuhang; Chenhao, Huang

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.113

Cited by 66 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…From Table 1, it can be concludedthat the most commonly used materials in the construction industry are widely analysed in the literature, namely mineral wool (MW) [4,5,9,11,12,15,17], glass wool (GW) [4,5,9,11,12], expanded polystyrene(EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) ( [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]17] and [9,10,12,14], respectively) and polyurethane (PUR) [9,10,12,17]. Some other materials have also been addressed, but only slightly, such as polysocyanurate (PIR) [14,15], phenol formaldehyde (PF) [9,15], foam glass (FG) [9,11], cellulose (Ce) [11], eco-fibre (EF) [17], cork (C) [10], wood fibres (WF) [13,15] or aerogel (AG) [14].…”

Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some other materials have also been addressed, but only slightly, such as polysocyanurate (PIR) [14,15], phenol formaldehyde (PF) [9,15], foam glass (FG) [9,11], cellulose (Ce) [11], eco-fibre (EF) [17], cork (C) [10], wood fibres (WF) [13,15] or aerogel (AG) [14]. Among the unconventional insulation materials, it was noted that those which derive from natural products have not been widely analysed, along with some emerging materials in the construction industry, such as sheep wool or recycled cotton, which have been generally overlooked.…”

Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this information was not clearly reported and was even confusing in some cases to identify the modules considered in each life cycle stage. Regarding the life cycle inventory (LCI) data source, Ecoinvent [22] was the most commonly used database [10][11][12]14], while BESLCI [21] was used in [9] and Athena IE [24] in [13]. It is worth noting that a considerable number of studies [4,5,16,17] did not specify the source for the LCI model.…”

Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mostly considered environmental impact categories were abiotic depletion potential (ADP), global warming , ozone layer depletion , photochemical oxidation, acidification and eutrophication , in agreement with EN 15978 (Part 2) [6]. The other impact categories addressed in the reviewed literature were embodied energy in [12], primary energy consumption in [9,11,13,14], toxicity, particulate matter, land use, ionising radiation and resource depletion in [15], and fuel consumption and energy in [5]. Not all the studies reported the method applied for the characterisation factors, beingCML [31] and TRACI [32]themost commonly applied ones.…”

Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, their environmental or cost effect on buildings' life cycle energy demand is an emerging research area promoted by recent changes within the regulatory framework of buildings [6][7][8]. By way of example, [4,5,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], they focus on their environmental performance, while [4,5,17] also focusing on their cost performance. However, and in agreement with the conclusions from [18], the insulation thickness calculated by applying energy or environmental optimisation criteria give, in some cases, results that are 10-fold higher than those obtained using economic criteria.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental and cost performance of building’s envelope insulation materials to reduce energy demand: Thickness optimisation

Braulio-Gonzalo

Bovea

2017

Energy and Buildings

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Thermal insulation materials play an important role in the challenge of nearly zero-energy buildings thanks to their potential in reducing building's energy demand and carbon emissions. However, increasing the thickness of the insulation material in the building's envelope has implications from the energy, environmental and economic viewpoints. In this context, efforts should be made to optimise insulation thickness to balance all these aspects.This study presents a methodology to analyse optimum insulation material for the building's envelope (roof, façade and floor) and its thickness to achieve energy demand reductions in the operation phase of the building, which is based on the Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing methodologies to integrate both environmental and economic aspects, respectively. The system boundary includes the life cycle stages of product and use defined by recent European standards. A selection of eleven alternative insulation materials, both conventional and emerging ones based on natural products, were chosen to conduct the study. After applying the methodology to a single-family house in Spain and performing a sensitivity analysis, the results revealed that sheep wool and recycled cotton, jointly with traditionally used mineral and glass wool, should be promoted in the construction industry as they offer the highest eco-efficient performance among the analysed insulation materials. Reductions of up to 40% in energy demand compared to regulations standards can be achieved in theeco-efficiency context. Keywords: optimuminsulation thickness; eco-efficiency; life cycle assessment; life cycle cost; energy demand Highlights• Optimising insulation thickness for the building's envelope • Eco-efficiency analysis of life cycle and cost assessment • Sensitivity analysis by varying the building's energy demand scenarios • Emerging naturally-based insulation materials were the most eco-efficient 3

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Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Lca Module Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental and cost performance of building’s envelope insulation materials to reduce energy demand: Thickness optimisation

Braulio-Gonzalo

Bovea

2017

Energy and Buildings

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Uses of dynamic simulation to predict thermal‐energy performance of buildings and districts: a review

Castaldo

Pisello

2017

WIREs Energy & Environment

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The design of sustainable constructions also resilient to climate change has become a challenging issue given the increasing greenhouse emissions rate imputable to the built environment in urban areas. In this context, dynamic simulation models represent a suitable tool to support the design from very preliminary phases, since they allow an accurate prediction of the constructions requirements, their environmental performance, and indoor comfort conditions for their occupants. Therefore, starting from specific inputs, that is, weather conditions, construction technologies, materials, energy systems, operation settings, occupancy, and so forth, it is possible to estimate the realistic building energy performance. Moreover, the calibration procedures allow making the model even more representative of the field conditions of a construction. Given the massive progress carried out by the scientific community during the last decades, this paper presents a comprehensive review of the different building dynamic simulation approaches and available tools. While previous review studies focused on single separated aspects of dynamic simulations approaches, that is, calibration methods, software, simulation of single building energy systems, the aim of the present review is to propose a more holistic approach by investigating the recent scientific progress in simulating realistic dense urban environments. In this view, the review focus bridges the gap between the simulation at single-building level and simulation at the increasingly important neighborhood scale by showing the multiple benefits deriving from using dynamic simulation tools at district level, for a more reliable investigation of building performance in their urban context, where more than 50% of the global population worldwide currently lives.

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Introduction

Heijungs

2024

Probability, Statistics and Life Cycle Assessment

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Life cycle inventory comparison of different building insulation materials and uncertainty analysis

Cited by 66 publications

References 22 publications

Environmental and cost performance of building’s envelope insulation materials to reduce energy demand: Thickness optimisation

Environmental and cost performance of building’s envelope insulation materials to reduce energy demand: Thickness optimisation

Uses of dynamic simulation to predict thermal‐energy performance of buildings and districts: a review

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