Search results for "Embodied Energy"
showing 7 items of 27 documents
Environmental assessment of a new building envelope material derived from urban agriculture wastes : the case of the tomato plants stems
2023
Abstract Purpose Decarbonizing cities is one of today’s biggest challenges. In this regard, particular attention has been paid on improving the environmental performance of buildings. In this framework, this work consists in assessing the environmental impact of an innovative building envelope component derived from urban agriculture (UA) wastes. In fact, rooftop UA seems to be a possible solution to the rising food demand due to increasing urban demographic growth. Consequently, rooftop UA wastes need to be treated in sustainable ways. Methods This study aims to determine the carbon footprint and embodied energy of a new infill wall material, derived from UA wastes produced by a building r…
Assessment of the embodied energy for manufacturing and laying a submarine outfall pipeline
2008
The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to a submarine outfall pipeline intended for the disposal of treated MWW in the South Tyrrhenian Sea, on Western Coast of Sicily. The pipe serves 115 thousands inhabitants; it is 3,1 km long with an outer diameter of 800 mm and is allocated in a submarine trench down to 18 m bsl. The pipe ends with a multiport diffuser with outer diameter 500 mm. The whole pipeline is made in HDPE and is statically stabilized by cast iron rings and concrete anchor blocks. From the detailed constructive project of the pipeline the most relevant items involved were drawn and the most important ones were selected, both as materials employed and as laying …
INNOVAZIONE DEI MATERIALI NATURALI: TERRA E NANOTUBI DI ARGILLA PER UNA SFIDA SOSTENIBILE
2019
All’interno del dibattito culturale che vede la questione ambientale come prioritaria e con riferimento a studi e ricerche che negli ultimi anni hanno promosso materiali compositi a base di terra cruda, gli Autori, consapevoli della necessità che il rapporto fra Progetto e Materia debba assumere una nuova centralità supportato dalle specificità della Tecnologia dell’Architettura, illustrano le risultanze di una sperimentazione che ha l’obiettivo di migliorare le prestazioni della terra cruda con l’apporto delle nanotecnologie, sviluppando un ‘nuovo materiale’ con una ridotta embodied energy e una ridotta quantità di emissioni di CO2 in atmosfera.
Environmental performance of building materials: life cycle assessment of a typical Sicilian marble
2009
Background, aim, and scope: The building sector is strategically important for achieving sustainability. Therefore, the improvement of energy and environmental performances are relevant targets because precious building materials such as marble have a significant impact on the environment. The aim of this paper is an analysis of a typical Sicilian marble (Perlato di Sicilia) to evaluate its energy and environmental performance. Marble plays an important role in the economy of Italy and has a global market share of 58% in terms of exports. For the main production areas of marble, relevant environmental performance data are missing except for one region (Tuscany-Massa e Carrara province). Per…
Valutare la qualità energetico-ambientale nell’edilizia
2013
The building sector is one of the most important in terms of wealth and employment, but it also involves significant resource consumption and environmental impacts. In particular, it affects the energy balance and the greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. It is responsible for 50-60% of the natural resource consumption and for 40% of the total energy consumption in Europe, and this percentage will increase without strategies and actions aimed at enhancing the use of renewable energy resources. Therefore, the reduction of resource consumption and the minimization of environmental impacts have become in recent years the main goals in the design and construction of sustainable buildings (eco-des…
Energy and environmental assessment of retrofit actions on a residential building
2014
Energy and environmental performances of buildings strictly depend on many factors related to the choice of construction materials, technical equipment, installation and use. In the following chapter a set of retrofit actions to improve the thermal performance of an existing conventional building is presented. The energy and environmental assessment of these actions is carried out following a life cycle approach. The embodied energy and the environmental impacts arisen from the production, transportation and installation phases of the required materials and components are calculated. Further, energy saving and environmental benefits and drawbacks concerning the assessed retrofit actions are…
Earth Bricks with Halloysite Nanoclay: Research and Experimentation for the Sustainability of Materials
2021
The paper illustrates the experimentation activities on rammed earth and nanotechnologies conducted by the authors. The experimental research was carried out with the aim of improving the performance of rammed earth bricks with clay nanotubes, creating a ‘new material’ with reduced embodied energy and low CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Specifically, the analysed performances are related to the compressive strength that expand their area of use as a building material.