Abstract
More effective construction technologies are needed nowadays in order to reduce construction energy consumption during the life-cycle of buildings. Besides which, it is necessary to consider the economic feasibility and associated costs within the framework of these alternative technologies so as to favouring their practical implementation in the construction sector. In this sense, this paper presents an economic and environmental comparison of a new non-bearing façade construction solution based on the extruded unfired stabilized clay panels as opposed to three traditional solutions with similar physical, thermal, and aesthetic characteristics in terms of the exterior cladding. The proposed panels are a sandwich type configuration with an intermediate insulating material and two exterior pieces manufactured by extrusion with raw earth stabilized with alginate and animal wool fibers. In this paper, details of the constructive technology of the system are provided. From the results obtained, it is possible to conclude that the solution is a valid alternative from the environmental point of view, considerably reducing the Global Warming Potential and the Cumulative Energy Demand. And although the environmental improvement of the system can be considered the primary objective of this investigation, on the other hand, once executed, it will also be a competitive constructive technology from the perspective of the system’s final costs.
Highlights
According to current knowledge, earthen building materials have been used worldwide since the Neolithic times
Taking into account the fact that most of the current ceramic construction technologies are based on the use of high temperature furnaces for the drying and hardening of the materials—which implies a significant increase of the embodied energy and CO2 emissions—the development of techniques and materials that avoid these baking processes would substantially reduce the environmental impact of the building [8,9,10,11,12,13,14]
The calculation described in the previous section is carried out with each of the four façade solutions in the comparison, allowing for the study of the differences in terms of GWP (Figure 4) and EE (Figure 5) in each phase of their life cycle
Summary
Earthen building materials have been used worldwide since the Neolithic times. The factors, in order of impact, that significantly prevent the effective application of sustainable materials are the lack of demand, the green construction culture, the high costs of sustainable construction materials, and the lack of knowledge regarding sustainable construction materials The second of these factors is especially important in terms of truly implementing green materials in the construction sector. It should be pointed out that the selection of building materials is a very important and complex task in every construction project [15], which can be determined with numerous preconditions, decisions, considerations, and detailed information on the building materials and products [16] With regard to this issue, there are several studies performed in order to reveal the cost of green buildings in comparison to conventional-standard buildings. Current research suggests that the cost of green buildings is nowadays only slightly higher than conventional technologies [21,22]
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