Eva Krídlová Burdová, Silvia Vilceková, Anna Sedláková, Ladislav Tažký

Comparison of material compositions of exterior wall in term of environmental and energy performance

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Abstract

In world with limited amount of energy sources and with serious environmental pollution, interest in comparing the environmental embodied impacts of buildings using different structure systems and alternative building materials will be increased. The selection of building materials used in the structures (floors, walls, roofs, windows, doors, etc.) belongs to one of the most important roles in the phase of building design. This decision has impact on the performance of the building with respect to the criteria of sustainability. The energy used in the extraction, processing and transportation of materials used in building structures can be significant part of the total energy used over the life cycle of building, particularly nearly-zero energy performance buildings. The environmental impacts are expressed by indicators such as embodied energy (EE) from non-renewable resources, embodied CO2-eq emissions (GWP, global warming potential) and embodied SO2-eq emissions (AP, acidification potential) within system boundary from Cradle to Gate. The aim of analysis is identify the environmental quality of material compositions of architectural structure alternatives of exterior wall. The final values of assessments are compared by using methods of multi-criteria decision analysis. The results of the analysis showed that exterior wall designed from ceramic brick and thermal insulation of EPS with graphite can assure the highest reduction of EE by 10% – 37%, of CO2 by 2% – 14%, of SO2 by approximately 10% – 57% in comparison with other alternatives.

Keywords: wall assemblies; energy and environmental indicators; thermo-physical parameters.