Helmut Melzer
Energy saving measures are one of the key levers in environmental strategies. Buildings generate 32 percent of final energy demand and approximately 40 percent of primary energy demand in most industrialized countries. Most of the energy is needed in central and northern Europe for space heating. In Austria, room heating contributes 28 percent to final energy demand and 14 percent to Austrian greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Future and potential
The current study "Energy scenarios up to 2050 - heat demand of small consumers" of the Vienna University of Technology now provides a glimpse into the future and shows that sustainable construction and renovation will have an ecological impact - and can still be applied to further measures. In the work, all domestic buildings and future buildings were included in several scenarios. Conclusion: Measures adopted so far can reduce the energy use from 86 terawatt hours TWh in the year 2012 to 53 TWh (2050), and even more ambitious measures to reduce them to 40 TWh in the year 2050.
The energy and CO2 savings through thermal renovation and renewable energy also prove a new study on behalf of the Climate and Energy Fund. Five Austrian pattern restoration projects were analyzed before and after the renovation. The result of the energy monitoring: The CO2 reduction of the projects totals around 105 tons per year. Occasionally, the use of renewable energy reduced Co2 emissions to zero percent. The specific heating energy could be reduced to at least one third.
Factor sprawl
In the case of ecology in construction, however, the factor of urban sprawl must also be taken into account. "An energy-efficient building on the green field" is not a positive example of sustainability. The sustainable design is mainly based on the factors of the location of the building, land use and housing form, "states Andrea Kraft of the Energy and Environment Agency eNu:" The detached house is often seen as a desirable form of housing, as it for the owners the highest individuality Fulfills. At the same time, however, this form of housing is associated with the highest consumption of space and resources, which is also reflected in the costs of development and increased traffic volumes. "
"The detached family house is often seen as a desirable form of living, because it meets the owners for the highest individuality. At the same time, however, this form of housing is associated with the highest consumption of space and resources, which is also reflected in the costs of development and increased traffic volumes. "
Andrea Kraft, Energy and Environment Agency eNu
Eco-indicators
To a very different extent, building materials also affect the environment and health. The LCA and eco-indicators provide information. "Austrian housing subsidies and building assessment programs mainly use the sum indicator Ökoindex 3 (OI3 indicator). Thus, ecological building characteristics have found their way into the evaluation of construction projects in Austrian construction. These have been anchored in the most important Austrian building assessment standards such as klimaaktiv and ÖGNB (TQB) since the beginning. In the planning and implementation, significant ecological improvements can be achieved, "explains Bernhard Lipp from the Austrian Institute for Building Biology and Construction Ecology IBO.
Gray energy: insulation pays for itself
In particular, it is important to note the "gray energy": the amount of energy needed to manufacture, transport, store, sell and dispose of a product. When it comes to sustainability measures, there is always the question of when they will pay for themselves ecologically in terms of gray energy, that is, they have saved the energy needed to produce and dispose of them.
"The reduction of energy consumption by insulation is both in terms of the primary
energy consumption and the CO2 saving in the truest sense of the word warmly recommended. "
Robert Lechner, Austrian Ecology Institute ÖÖI
Robert Lechner from the Austrian Institute of Ecology: "The energy and ecological amortization of the insulating materials of low-energy buildings usually takes from a few months to a maximum of two years. Even with critical balancing, a highly efficient building is able to save at least 30 kWh of heat per square meter and year compared to a standard building according to construction law. The reduction of energy consumption by insulation is in the truest sense of the word highly recommended in terms of both primary energy consumption and CO2 savings. "According to Astrid Scharnhorst from the IBO," The insulation of buildings reduces the heat required for their heating and cooling energy expenditure. The production costs of many insulating materials are therefore amortized ecologically in very short periods of time. "
Insulation: recycling & pollutants
Ideally, insulation should be recycled, or at least recycled. This is also fundamentally possible with polystyrene, and some companies are already working on technical solutions, for example using milling machines, but: Due to the previous use of the X-ray-resistant HBCD flame retardant, re-use is currently not possible.
The new study "Dismantling, Recycling and Utilization of ETICS" of the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics and the Research Institute for Thermal Insulation FIW Munich states: The hazard classification of the used flame retardant HBCD significantly limits the recycling possibilities. In the sense of waste prevention, therefore, the "doubling" is recommended: The existing thermal insulation is not dismantled, but upgraded by an additional insulating layer. At the end of the life of an EPS plate is currently only an energetic recovery possible, ie energy recovery by combustion. However, methods for raw material recovery are definitely suitable as a solution, but they are expensive and so far hardly commercially usable. That should change now. The so-called CreaSolv process, for example, regains the pure polymer polystyrene by its specific solubility, which also makes it possible to separate HBCD and to obtain bromine from it. A first large-scale plant is planned in the Netherlands. Recycling capacity: around 3.000 tons per year.Austria HBCD-free
It is gratifying to note that most Austrian EPS manufacturers have already completed the switch to the alternative flame retardant pFR with effect from January 2015. Domestic EPS products of the quality protection group Polystyrol-Hartschaum (Brands Austrotherm, Austyrol, Bachl, Modrice, Röhrnbach, Brucha, EPS Industries, Flatz, Hirsch, Steinbacher, Swisspor) are thus HBCD-free. A recent test report of the Federal Environmental Agency on ten transmitted samples is available to the editors. However, around 15 percent of the EPS plates available in Austria are imported. It should also be noted that there are no long-term scientific studies on the completeness of pFR. The same applies to various ingredients of alternative insulation materials.Petroleum in insulation
Even the argument that it would waste oil in the production of insulation boards made of polystyrene, is not true: Although thermal insulation systems such as EPS plates are actually petroleum products, but they consist of 98 percent of air and only two percent of polystyrene. The use of oil in insulation therefore pays off, as a multiple of fuel oil or its equivalent is saved.
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