The aim of the project in question is to produce a thorough and user-friendly comparison table that shows the main technical and environmental characteristics of a given product and allows the user to compare different building materials available on the UK market on the basis of of the data under each parameter. This study is related to the topic of sustainable building construction and I would like to thank Peter Draper for offering me a volunteer position as part of the Rounded Developments Enterprises and for involving me in this project that I feel I am. The target group is the Welsh Housing Associations and the outcome of the project would ideally be a simplistic system that could be used to select the best product for the specific purpose and help make informed decisions about sustainable new build and refurbishment .
Once the exemplary table is made for the first product, the same pattern can be followed for the rest of the building materials. This is why the current report will only contain part of my work, but it should still succeed in demonstrating the concept of the project. No matter how many pain medications a person takes, he/she will continue to be sick unless the cause of the health problem is treated.
You see, we must make use of the forces of nature and must obtain all our strength in this way. So what we mainly lack is political will and widespread knowledge of the core issues and feasible solutions.
Environmental impacts of buildings in the UK
From Figures 2 and 3 we can see that space heating takes up more than half of the energy use of the average UK home. The UK is not an isolated case either – in fact the same number is true for the average EU household (60%). Again, it is important to note that while this means that space heating is a major polluter and.
Insulation – a possible solution?
The figure shows the development of the average thickness of insulation in different countries from 1982 to 1999. We can see that already in 1982 the Northern European countries had thicker insulation installed than other countries in 1999 and that they continue to increase the average thickness significantly. While this makes sense due to the cooler climates in these countries, it can also mean that the amount of energy used for space heating in these countries may be the same or less compared to countries such as the UK and Germany, despite the warmer climates of the latter.
The need for a comparison tool
The Green Guide to Specification
The Green Guide is essentially a rating system for various construction products based on their extensive cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment. The highest possible "grade" is A+ and represents the best environmental performance, while the lowest is E, which means products that are very harmful to the environment throughout their life cycle. As taken from the official rating publication - The Green Guide to Specification, 4th edition.
Although the idea behind this rating system is extremely constructive, when it comes to actually choosing the right product for a given purpose, the choice can hardly be made solely on the basis of a general rating of product types. Furthermore, BRE's rating does not provide any data about the products to the used - the only piece of information that can be obtained about a given material is whether its rating according to the LCA is, for example, B or C. For these reasons I did not use the Green Guide for this project, except for two columns included in the comparison system - one for the Green.
Guide classification of the product, and one stating the BRE ecopoints assigned to it (the lower the number the better, as explained in the parameter section).
GreenSpec
Principles of heat loss
Conduction
Conduction occurs when two materials of different temperatures are in contact, or when two parts of a solid have different temperatures. Basically, it is the transfer of thermal energy between neighboring molecules in the direction of decreasing temperature. From this mechanism derives the term "thermal conductivity", one of the most important parameters of insulating materials.
Convection
Radiation
Heat loss mechanisms in a building
How does insulation work?
Vacuum insulation
Reflective insulation
Mass insulation
The energy saving potential of insulation
Since the main concern of every home owner is above all costs, it is difficult to invest in all possible solutions to reduce energy consumption. Instead, we should focus on the most cost-effective solution and on methods that create improvements in different ways at the same time, so that we can achieve multiple upgrades at the same time. In fact, it may be the single most effective strategy for energy efficiency in Europe.
And as we'll see in the next section, it's a source of multiple benefits and an excellent overall strategy toward the ultimate goals of energy efficiency on a small scale and at the national level. There are two main areas that need improvement – the renovation of old housing and the construction of new energy-efficient buildings. Both are very significant – on the one hand, most housing is old, on the other hand, new construction can offer much more significant improvements.
According to XCO2 conisbee's guide "Insulation for sustainability" /3/, an average 30% reduction in heating energy use can be achieved by. Although it is difficult to estimate how many houses in Europe need to be renovated, it is assumed that about 50% of all. European houses lack insulation - "More than 50% of the total building stock and 85% of those before 1965 are without any wall insulation"/3/.
Again, this just shows the huge importance of installing insulation in all existing buildings and the huge potential for improving energy consumption in Europe.
Benefits of insulation
Small scale benefits
As we mentioned earlier, savings of 30-40% can be achieved by renovating old buildings and up to 90% by incorporating good insulation and airtightness systems in new buildings. As is common in all areas, the main reason not to install thermal insulation in the first place is the extra investment cost that people are not willing to pay. Some manufacturers even provide acoustic performance data for their products, measured in decibels of sound reduction that can be achieved with the given insulation product.
Additional benefits to the homeowner may include improved building fire protection and higher property values.
Large scale benefits
If most buildings installed the appropriate thermal installation, this would lead to a significant reduction in heating demand, which would ease the load on the energy distribution network. It will also contribute to reducing expenditures from the national budget for the installation of new power plants needed to meet the growing demand for electricity.
Different forms of insulation
That is why it is beyond the scope of this work to concentrate too much on the various insulation product classifications. An idea of the extent of variation among insulation products can be obtained from the attached comparison table – although it only covers 36 different insulation products, the types range from sheep's wool, hemp, cotton and linen to recycled newspaper, glass mineral wool and polystyrene. .
Parameters
- Moisture control
- Material strength
- Environmental impact
- Health and safety
- Assessment and certification
For example, the thermal conductivity of a material, also known as the k-value, is expressed in W/mK (watts per Kelvin per meter). The smaller the thermal. It is a good measure of the ability of various barriers to prevent conduction and convection losses, also known as U-value. It is proportional to the reciprocal of a material's thermal conductivity, but while the latter is based on a 1 meter cube, thermal resistance also accounts for the material's thickness.
It usually occurs when the vapor pressure inside the material is lower than the surrounding air pressure. We've talked before about thermal conductivity and its importance in relation to a material's insulating properties - the presence of water drastically increases heat loss through a material. In this case we use the term vapor permeability (µ - value) as it is a large property and does not depend on the thickness of the material.
Although it is a very important parameter for characterizing parts of a structure, it cannot be used for product comparison because it reflects the density of the material. It is the ratio of the maximum stress (the force that causes the stress in the material divided by the area it acts on) to the stress (the ratio of the change occurring in the material from its original state). The coefficient of thermal expansion measures the change that occurs in the size of the material as the temperature changes.
In order to enable comparison of products, this energy is expressed as megajoules per kilogram of the product. The procurement location of all types of products relative to the location of their end use can greatly influence the environmental impact of the product. This environmental performance characteristic not only reflects the amount of waste generated during the production and after the disposal of the product.
On the other hand, we have another certification organization – the LPCV approval system by BRE Global, which certifies products that meet fire and safety specifications. The mark goes from A to E, where A1 and A2 marks indicate the best performance, while E - is the worst. There values reflect the overall environmental impact of the product based on results of detailed life cycle assessments.
This is a very simple assessment which simply indicates the source of the environmental impact information provided. One Star Rating: The product is included based on an evaluation of the manufacturer's own product information.
Results
Further work
Adding more insulation products to the table
Contacting manufacturers for additional information
Expanding to all other types of building materials
Conclusion
