Many building insulation materials are on the market, but there is a growing recognition of their negative impact on the environment and human health. In recent years, scientists have started to explore new, more sustainable alternatives that will perform as well as these well-established options but help mitigate carbon emissions from the housing sector. This article will examine the latest developments in sustainable building materials and how they can address current challenges and future directions.
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Building Insulation Materials: An Overview
Energy consumption for heating buildings during colder months and cooling them in warmer seasons or hotter climates is a major concern for many countries.
Over the centuries, several materials have been utilized to insulate domestic and commercial buildings, cutting down energy bills and using critical climate change-inducing resources to provide energy worldwide.
Traditional building insulation materials include fiberglass blankets and batts, spray foam, plywood, polyurethane, cork insulation board, and natural fibers such as wool, cellulose, wood fiber, straw, and hemp. These materials are usually treated to avoid risks such as fire and mold.
Several factors govern the choice of insulation material, such as compressive strength, toxicity, flammability, ease of installation, durability, the material’s environmental impact, and how easy it is to replace at the end of its life.
Challenges With Traditional Building Insulation Materials
While several insulation materials are well-established and widely used worldwide, many challenges are associated with their use. These include cost, health impacts on residents, challenges with thermal and mechanical properties, carbon emissions produced during their production, the use of toxic chemicals during manufacture, and end-of-life disposal.1
Polymer-based insulation materials such as polyurethane foam and polystyrene, for instance, are incredibly problematic. Their manufacture is carbon-intensive, requires treatment to reduce flammability, has toxicity and impacts on human health, and is difficult to dispose of at the end of their life.1
The construction sector has increasingly become recognized as one of the major contributors to anthropogenic climate change. Proper insulation can significantly mitigate energy loss, but the use of traditional materials is paradoxical: a lack of sustainability associated with the materials and their production is, in part, driving the environmental impact of the building sector.
What are Sustainable Building Insulation Materials and Why are They Important?
Improving the sustainability of building insulation materials is a critical focus within the construction industry. Innovative solutions are needed to curtail further global temperature rises and avoid the worst effects of industrial activity on the climate.
Sustainable building insulation materials are not just more environmentally friendly, they also offer benefits such as improved thermal and mechanical properties, reduced flammability without the need for potentially toxic chemical treatments, low ecological toxicity, reduced impact on human health, improved cost-effectiveness, and better end-of-life recyclability and disposal.1
Several innovative sustainable insulation materials have been researched and developed over the past few years, with natural bio-based fibers emerging as forerunners in current studies and R&D efforts.1,2,3 Other innovations, such as aerogels as well as foam insulation made from recycled materials, have been explored.4
Latest Developments in Sustainable Building Insulation Materials
Research published in 2022 reported the development of a mycelium composite brick for use as a sustainable building material.2 Mycelium, the root-like structure of fungal bodies, has seen increased interest in multiple industries in recent years.
Pleurotus ostreatus, cultivated using rye berry feedstock, was the fungus used to produce this material. The resultant mycelium-based sustainable insulation material consists of a central substrate core surrounded by a water-repellent skin with favorable mechanical strength and good energy performance, making it an interesting alternative to conventional materials.
A study on cellulosic aerogels as thermal insulation materials was published in 2023.5 Favorable properties of aerogels include their low density, biodegradability, sustainable production from a myriad of natural and renewable bio-based sources, and extremely low thermal conductivity.
The research team produced a modified cellulosic aerogel with improved hydrophobicity and flame resistance, which is a good candidate for low-cost, high-performance, sustainable building insulation material.
Several other approaches have been the focus of other research over the last year, such as using agricultural and textile waste as material sources and reinforcement in bio-based composites, the flame-resistant behavior of bio-based composites, and life-cycle analyses.1,3 Waste management, resource management, and end-of-life disposal are some other areas where research is focused.
While commercial options are currently limited, the growing body of literature over the past year attests to the scientific community's attention on improving the sustainability of building insulation materials.
Future Directions of Sustainable Building Insulation
Sustainable building insulation materials are still emerging technologies with their own challenges. These challenges must be overcome to become commercially viable and competitive with conventional, more environmentally and health-damaging options. Complex challenges still need to be comprehensively addressed.
According to some sources, optimizing bio-based materials and characterizing them and their corresponding emissions (pre- and post-treatment during installation) is crucial for further development. Further studies on this aspect of the technology will help with the widespread adoption of sustainable building insulation materials. Studies will also need to evaluate the hydrothermal behavior of both bio-based and synthetic sustainable materials.3
Policies and regulations will also be needed to ensure the smooth adoption of these emerging materials into the global market. Incentives for agricultural producers to provide raw materials would be a positive step, such as discouraging the burning of stubble waste, which could otherwise be used to produce materials for bio-based insulation.3
However, despite some challenges in this area, research into sustainable insulation materials shows immense promise: their introduction and use provide significant emissions savings during manufacture compared to conventional alternatives. Moreover, bio-based insulation materials directly link the construction, energy, and agricultural sectors.
In conclusion, sustainable building insulation materials have the potential to significantly curb carbon emissions associated with traditional alternatives, as well as cost and other benefits. Increased research focus and more rapid commercial adoption of these emerging materials will be crucial over the coming decades if net zero targets are to be met in the building sector.
References and Further Reading
- Biyade, S et al. (2023) New Resources for Sustainable Thermal Insulation Using Textile and Agricultural Waste in a New Circular Economy Approach: An Overview Processes 11(9) 2683 [online] mdpi.com. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/11/9/2683
- Zhang, X et al. (2022) Naturally grown mycelium-composite as sustainable building insulation materials Journal of Cleaner Production 342 [online] ScienceDirect. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652622004231
- Raja, P et al. (2023) A Review of Sustainable Bio-Based Insulation Materials for Energy-Efficient Buildings Macromolecular Materials & Engineering 308(10) 2300086 [online] Wiley Online Library. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mame.202300086
- Bailey, J (2023) The Ultimate Guide to Eco-Friendly Insulation Materials for Buildings [online] Planet Pristine. Available at: https://planetpristine.com/sustainable/materials/eco-friendly-insulation-materials-for-buildings/ (Accessed on 21 August 2024)
- Guo, W et al. (2023) Ultra-light-weight, anti-flammable and water-proof cellulosic aerogels for thermal insulation applications International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 246, 125343 [online] ScienceDirect. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0141813023022377
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