Environmentally Friendly Building Materials with Beneficial Potential for Indoor Air Quality

Abstract

Following the obvious increasingly interest for environmental protection and pollution reduction, worldwide, there is a strong orientation for identification and use in buildings some materials that require low power consumption and to determine a pollution low level in all stages of their production and exploitation. These energy and environmental protection criteria can be met successfully by a combination of unburned masonry bodies made of clay, mixed with various other natural materials, and sheep wool thermal insulation mattresses. These construction elements have a beneficial influence on the air quality of the interior space, ensuring, through the permeability to water vapor, the regulation of the relative humidity of the air and, through ability to store thermal energy in warm periods and release it in the cold ones, a uniform temperature distribution inside and avoiding high temperature fluctuations between seasons. Based on the experimental research results, we can identify solutions for achieving a vernacular housing (resistance walls, partition walls, floors, plasters, water protection, thermal insulation and finishing) in terms of safety, comfort and current aesthetic criteria. Keywords: adobe bricks, clay, hemp fibers, straw, sheep wool