Abstract
Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) were conducted to evaluate sculptured cement mortar tiles, proposed by Hershcovich et al. (2021), and conventional cement mortar flat tiles for thermal insulation of a typical residential building in Mediterranean climate. The production (P) and operational energy (OE) stages were compared between the sculptured tiles and the conventional flat tiles. The P stage used Portland cement with 95% clinker (CEM I) and Portland limestone cement with 65% clinker (CEM II). The OE stage used 31% coal, 56% natural gas, and 13% photovoltaic (PV) (adopted in 2020) and 8% coal, 57% natural gas, and 35% PV (planned for 2025). The ReCiPe2016 single-score method was used to assess environmental damage over short (20 years), long (100 years), and infinite (1000 years) time horizons of living pollutants. The results show that the use of sculptured tiles caused environmental damage in the short time horizon and environmental benefits in the long and infinite time horizons in the 2020 scenario, while it led to environmental benefits only in the infinite time horizon in the 2025 scenario.
Highlights
Buildings alone account for about 40% of the world’s energy consumption [1]
In the further Life-cycle assessments (LCAs), group F was selected as the main representative group, for which both midpoint and endpoint single-score results are presented
In terms of global warming potential and terrestrial acidification, the benefit of OEdelta was significantly higher than the damage of Pdelta, whereas, in terms of water consumption and ionizing radiation, the damage of Pdelta was much higher than the benefit of OEdelta
Summary
Buildings alone account for about 40% of the world’s energy consumption [1]. This large amount of energy consumption can be significantly reduced with proper insulation of the building’s envelope. Sbrogiò et al [2] and Al-Saqqaf et al [3] used typical energy-saving technologies (e.g., cladding all exterior walls with mineral wool, insulating panels for floor slabs, double walls with polystyrene insulation, installation of a green roof and double low-E glass) to reduce energy consumption in heating and cooling old or heritage buildings. In both cases, the authors reported a significant energy-saving effect for the operational energy (OE) stage. To understand the impact of energy-efficient building technologies on the environment, at least the OE and P stages must be evaluated in parallel
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