Energy and emergy based cost–benefit evaluation of building envelopes relative to geographical location and climate

Abstract This paper presents an environmental evaluation of building envelopes, made of three different technologies: a traditional air-cavity wall, a plus-insulated wall (with an external cork covering), and a ventilated wall (with external brick panels fixed on extruded frames). An environmental accounting method, namely Emergy Evaluation (EE), was performed for assessing environmental resource use (energy and material flows), both directly and indirectly, for the construction of a facade (1000 m2). Then, energy use during the building lifetime was assessed as a constant inflow to the building depending on the thermal skills of building envelopes, besides thermal efficiency of air-conditioning system. In particular, this energy inflow is needed for maintaining constant indoor climate conditions (18 °C) and has to balance heat dissipation through envelopes (heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer). Outcomes were compared with an Energy Analysis (EA) based on an embodied energy accounting. Finally, costs for manufacturing walls (with enhanced performance) and benefits (energy saving) were compared in a unique balance, through both EA and EE. Moreover, outcomes were obtained for three scenarios corresponding to three geographic locations (Berlin in northern Europe, Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast and Palermo in the south of Italy). Results highlighted that performances of building envelopes depend on technologies relative to external climate conditions. Different environmental accounting methods, such as EE and EA, provided outcomes with some difference that are not contradictory to each other but complementary.

[1]  M. Holmes,et al.  Climate change, thermal comfort and energy: Meeting the design challenges of the 21st century , 2007 .

[2]  K. Adalberth,et al.  Energy use during the life cycle of buildings: a method , 1997 .

[3]  Francesco Leccese,et al.  Ventilated facades energy performance in summer cooling of buildings , 2003 .

[4]  P. Nunes.  Towards a European Strategy for the security of energy supply , 2002 .

[5]  Mark Luther,et al.  Energy efficient envelope design for high-rise apartments , 2005 .

[6]  David Rousseau,et al.  Environmental auditing for building construction: Energy and air pollution indices for building materials , 1992 .

[7]  Gregory A. Keoleian,et al.  Life cycle energy and environmental performance of a new university building: modeling challenges and design implications , 2003 .

[8]  Simone Bastianoni,et al.  Specific emergy of cement and concrete: An energy-based appraisal of building materials and their transport , 2008 .

[9]  Raymond J. Cole,et al.  Life-cycle energy use in office buildings , 1996 .

[10]  Gülten Manioğlu,et al.  Economic evaluation of the building envelope and operation period of heating system in terms of thermal comfort , 2006 .

[11]  Simone Bastianoni,et al.  Environmental and Economic Evaluation of Natural Capital Appropriation through Building Construction: Practical Case Study in the Italian Context , 2007, Ambio.

[12]  Zerrin Yilmaz,et al.  Evaluation of energy efficient design strategies for different climatic zones: Comparison of thermal performance of buildings in temperate-humid and hot-dry climate , 2007 .

[13]  Dorota Chwieduk,et al.  Towards sustainable-energy buildings , 2003 .

[14]  Marcus M. Keane,et al.  Using indicators to profile energy consumption and to inform energy policy in a university—A case study in Ireland , 2007 .

[15]  Justo Garcia Navarro,et al.  Assessment of the decrease of CO2 emissions in the construction field through the selection of materials: Practical case study of three houses of low environmental impact , 2006 .

[16]  Thomas R. Dye,et al.  Power and Society , 2008 .

[17]  Jan Kosny,et al.  Influence of insulation configuration on heating and cooling loads in a continuously used building , 2002 .

[18]  Howard T. Odum,et al.  Environment, Power, and Society , 1972 .

[19]  Vorasun Buranakarn,et al.  Emergy indices and ratios for sustainable material cycles and recycle options , 2003 .

[20]  Elisabeth C. Odum,et al.  Ecology and Economy: "Emergy" Analysis and Public Policy in Texas, PRP 78 , 1987 .

[21]  P. Nilsson.  Environmental Accounting—EMERGY and Environmental Decision Making , 1997, Forest Science.

[22]  Maria Wall,et al.  Enhanced energy conservation in houses through high performance design , 2007 .

[23]  Elizabeth Kossecka,et al.  Multi-dimensional heat transfer through complex building envelope assemblies in hourly energy simulation programs , 2002 .

[24]  Simone Bastianoni,et al.  Emergy analysis of building manufacturing, maintenance and use: Em-building indices to evaluate housing sustainability , 2007 .

[25]  Constantinos A. Balaras,et al.  Heating energy consumption and resulting environmental impact of European apartment buildings , 2005 .