Environmental Footprint of Cementitious Adhesives—Components of ETICS

Sebastian Czernik, Marta Marcinek, Bartosz Michałowski, Michał Piasecki, Justyna Tomaszewska and Jacek Michalak
Additional contact information
Sebastian Czernik: Research and Development Center, Atlas sp. z o.o., 2, Kilinskiego St., 91–421 Lodz, Poland
Marta Marcinek: Research and Development Center, Atlas sp. z o.o., 2, Kilinskiego St., 91–421 Lodz, Poland
Bartosz Michałowski: Research and Development Center, Atlas sp. z o.o., 2, Kilinskiego St., 91–421 Lodz, Poland
Michał Piasecki: Building Research Institute, 1, Filtrowa St., 00-611 Warsaw, Poland
Justyna Tomaszewska: Building Research Institute, 1, Filtrowa St., 00-611 Warsaw, Poland
Jacek Michalak: Research and Development Center, Atlas sp. z o.o., 2, Kilinskiego St., 91–421 Lodz, Poland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-13

Abstract: Energy saving is one of the strategic challenges facing our civilization today. Without decisive actions to reduce energy consumption, it is impossible to maintain the current standard of living. Energy consumption for heating and cooling purposes is one of the primary energy consumption sources in many countries. The external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS), which is today the most widely used solution in EU countries, increases buildings’ energy efficiency. This article investigates the impact of producing cementitious adhesives, as part of ETICS with expanded polystyrene (EPS) or mineral wool (MW), on the natural environment using the cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) method. Cementitious adhesives have a relatively low impact on most of the environmental indicators analyzed in the paper concerning other ETICS components. The paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of the environmental impact related to the production of cementitious adhesives. Knowledge of the construction products’ environmental impact is fundamental for creating reliable databases, based on which, in the future, their environmental requirements will be determined. The environmental performance of building elements is essential for the correct determination of the buildings’ sustainability.

Keywords: construction material; environmental impact; environmental product declaration (EPD); life cycle assessment (LCA); cementitious adhesives; external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS); global warming potential (GWP); sustainable building (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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