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

Domenico Palladino,Flavio Scrucca,Grazia Barberio,Nicolandrea Calabrese,Carlo Ingrao

doi:10.3390/en14175508

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.

Highlights

The increasing emission of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) has led to climate change, entailing important consequences, such as desertification and extreme atmospheric phenomena
Buildings are recognised as one such sector, as they are responsible for about 40% of the global energy consumption and about 30% of CO2 eq
To evaluate the energy performance of innovative and sustainable materials when they are applied at the building scale

Summary

Introduction

The increasing emission of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) has led to climate change, entailing important consequences, such as desertification and extreme atmospheric phenomena. CO2 emissions-reduction represents the key point in current energy policy, where sustainable, innovative, and efficient solutions are generally being promoted. Buildings are recognised as one such sector, as they are responsible for about 40% of the global energy consumption (which holds for Italy, according to the annual national report of the Italian Minister of Economic Development [1]) and about 30% of CO2 eq. Representing 30% of the global consumption of raw materials, buildings are responsible for significant additional CO2 eq. To face climate change and other environmental challenges, the building sector calls for solutions that sustainably enable reduction in their well-documented consumption of resources, materials, fuels, and energy, from a life-cycle perspective [6] Emissions due to production and acquisition of all the materials and components that are required for their construction [2,3,4,5]. 4.0/).

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