Emerging façade materials and their processing for large apartments: A comparative energy and environmental performance

Abstract

The indoor environment and the energy required to maintain it depends largely on the nature of the façade of a building. The present study deals with the energy and environmental performance of typically practiced façade options along with recent research trends for sustainable alternatives. Physical, thermal properties and environmental impacts of several masonry, mortar, plaster, cladding, insulation, glazing, and frame alternatives are listed and discussed thoroughly. Operational and embodied energy performance and associated GHG emissions of 17 exterior wall assemblies are also compared for 10 typical apartment buildings in Kolkata, India. Operational energy requirements are assessed for the studied buildings through whole building energy simulation. The overall energy performance and GHG emission for the studied buildings are assessed by combining their embod"ied energy component with operational energy component considering a building lifespan of 50 years. Compared to brick walls the operational and overall energy performance of AAC block walls improved by 9.60%, 13.36% respectively; and corresponding GHG emissions lessened by and 9.60%, 10.34% respectively. Walls with cement-stabilized soil blocks showed best embodied energy performance (lesser by 545.13%) and least embodied GHG emission (lesser by 527.36%) than brick walls. Burnt clay brick and dense concrete block walls are found to be the worst performing among the studied alternatives.