The Life Cycle Assessment Of External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems Based On Two Kinds Of Materials

Among the total energy consumption in buildings, the energy consumption of theenvelop structure of buildings takes up a relatively large proportion. Therefore, thetechnical treatment of thermal insulation of outer walls has a large impact on reducingthe energy consumption in buildings as well as improving the indoor comfort. Atpresent, external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) have been appliedwidely. The ETICS technology reduces energy consumption effectively in theoperational period of buildings, however, it also increases the environmental load dueto building thermal insulation material production in some degree, and the life cycleenvironmental impact of this technology should give more detailed researches.In this research, the quantitative analysis and evaluation of resourcesconsumption and pollutant emission caused by materials on external walls, EPSETICS and ROCK ETICS, were carried out based on Life Cycle Assessment(LCA).The results show that: the major pollutants of EPS ETICS and ROCK ETICSis CO2, accounts for23.5kg/m2and46.0kg/m2, respectively. For EPS ETICS, themain three environmental impacts are acidification potential (AP), photochemicaloxidant formation potential (POCP) and global warming potential (GWP), whichaccounts for35.3%,22.0%and18.4%of the total environmental load, respectively.The largest environmental load of EPS ETICS comes from Dry-mixed Mortar, whichcontributes52.3%to the total environmental load. The main environmental impacts ofDry-mixed Mortar are abiotic depletion potential (ADP), POCP and eutrophicationpotential (EP). The second load is from the EPS board production, which has45.3%contribution to the total environmental load, and its main impact categories are GWP,AP and human toxicity potential (HTP). The main kinds of environmental impact forROCK ETICS are GWP, AP and POCP, which accounts for29.1%,26.7%and20.0%of the total environmental load, respectively. The largest load of ROCK ETICS iscaused by rock wool board, which has51.1%contribution to the total environmentalload, and its main impact aspects are AP, GWP and HTP. The environmental impactcaused by Dry-mixed Mortar process accounts for47.0%of the total environmentalload, whose main kinds of impact are POCP, ADP and EP.Comparing the environmental performance between EPS ETICS and ROCKETICS based on the same insulation effect, the result shows that the totalenvironmental impact of EPS ETICS is less than that of ROCK ETICS. When the burning behavior of building materials was taken into account with the sameinsulation effect, ROCK ETICS has better environmental performance compared withEPS ETICS.