IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i17p5508-d628614.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Durum-Wheat Straw Bales for Thermal Insulation of Buildings: Findings from a Comparative Energy Analysis of a Set of Wall-Composition Samples on the Building Scale

Author

Listed:
  • Domenico Palladino

    (DUEE Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Anguillarese 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, Italy)

  • Flavio Scrucca

    (SSPT Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Anguillarese 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, Italy)

  • Nicolandrea Calabrese

    (DUEE Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Anguillarese 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, Italy)

  • Grazia Barberio

    (SSPT Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Anguillarese 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, Italy)

  • Carlo Ingrao

    (Department of Economics, University of Foggia, Via Romolo Caggese 1, 71121 Foggia, Italy)

Abstract

The urgent need to make buildings more performant in energy and environmental terms has led to the increasing study of recycled and natural materials as viable solutions. In this context, the present study aims at comparing the energy performance of innovative wall-sample solutions (with recycled polyethylene-terephthalate panels or durum-wheat straw bales) with a basic one. Energy evaluations were performed in Piazza Armerina (a city of Sicily–Italy), where the chosen material is widespread, by applying two calculation methods: a monthly average-energy-calculation approach, mandatory by Italian regulations (UNI TS 11300), and an hourly energy-calculation procedure (EN 52016). The results documented that: (i) the new innovative wall-sample allows for significantly reducing heat loss (heating of 4–10% and cooling of 40–50%) (ii) a lower primary-energy demand was obtained by adopting the new calculation procedure of EN 52016 (energy decreasing of 20–24%); (iii) significant differences in terms of heat-loss (of 10–36%) and heat-gain (up to 75%) calculations were found for the two calculation methods. This puts emphasis upon the importance of properly selecting a calculation method by accounting for all of those key variables and features that are representative of the energy system being investigated.

Suggested Citation

  • Domenico Palladino & Flavio Scrucca & Nicolandrea Calabrese & Grazia Barberio & Carlo Ingrao, 2021. "Durum-Wheat Straw Bales for Thermal Insulation of Buildings: Findings from a Comparative Energy Analysis of a Set of Wall-Composition Samples on the Building Scale," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:17:p:5508-:d:628614
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5508/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5508/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Semple, Sally & Jenkins, David, 2020. "Variation of energy performance certificate assessments in the European Union," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    2. Jakob Carlander & Bahram Moshfegh & Jan Akander & Fredrik Karlsson, 2020. "Effects on Energy Demand in an Office Building Considering Location, Orientation, Façade Design and Internal Heat Gains—A Parametric Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Ohlsson, K.E. Anders & Olofsson, Thomas, 2021. "Benchmarking the practice of validation and uncertainty analysis of building energy models," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    4. Chinnici, Gaetano & D’Amico, Mario & Rizzo, Marcella & Pecorino, Biagio, 2015. "Analysis of biomass availability for energy use in Sicily," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1025-1030.
    5. Anna Magrini & Giorgia Lentini, 2020. "NZEB Analyses by Means of Dynamic Simulation and Experimental Monitoring in Mediterranean Climate," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-25, September.
    6. D'Amico, A. & Ciulla, G. & Panno, D. & Ferrari, S., 2019. "Building energy demand assessment through heating degree days: The importance of a climatic dataset," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 1285-1306.
    7. Gianpiero Colangelo & Brenda Raho & Marco Milanese & Arturo de Risi, 2021. "Numerical Evaluation of a HVAC System Based on a High-Performance Heat Transfer Fluid," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-18, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Domenico Palladino & Silvia Di Turi & Iole Nardi, 2021. "Energy and Environmental Effects of Human Habits in Residential Buildings Due to COVID-19 Outbreak Scenarios in a Dwelling near Rome," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-24, November.
    2. Robert Dylewski & Janusz Adamczyk, 2022. "Building Energy: Economics and Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-2, October.
    3. Flavio Scrucca & Domenico Palladino, 2023. "Integration of Energy Simulations and Life Cycle Assessment in Building Refurbishment: An Affordability Comparison of Thermal Insulation Materials through a New Sustainability Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-22, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria Conceição da Costa Silva & Alyx Diêgo Oliveira Silva & Emilia Rahnemay Kohlman Rabbani & Luciana H. Alencar & George da Mota Passos Neto & João Pedro Couto & Rodolfo Valdes-Vasquez, 2022. "Guidelines for the Implementation of BIM for Post-Occupancy Management of Social Housing in Brazil," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-20, September.
    2. Kittisak Lohwanitchai & Daranee Jareemit, 2021. "Modeling Energy Efficiency Performance and Cost-Benefit Analysis Achieving Net-Zero Energy Building Design: Case Studies of Three Representative Offices in Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-24, May.
    3. Deborah Bentivoglio & Adele Finco & Mirian Rumenos Piedade Bacchi, 2016. "Interdependencies between Biofuel, Fuel and Food Prices: The Case of the Brazilian Ethanol Market," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-16, June.
    4. Solène Goy & François Maréchal & Donal Finn, 2020. "Data for Urban Scale Building Energy Modelling: Assessing Impacts and Overcoming Availability Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-23, August.
    5. John A. Paravantis & Panagiotis D. Tasios & Vasileios Dourmas & Georgios Andreakos & Konstantinos Velaoras & Nikoletta Kontoulis & Panagiota Mihalakakou, 2021. "A Regression Analysis of the Carbon Footprint of Megacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-24, January.
    6. Baglivo, Cristina & Congedo, Paolo Maria & Murrone, Graziano & Lezzi, Dalila, 2022. "Long-term predictive energy analysis of a high-performance building in a mediterranean climate under climate change," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    7. Badr Eddine Lebrouhi & Eric Schall & Bilal Lamrani & Yassine Chaibi & Tarik Kousksou, 2022. "Energy Transition in France," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-28, May.
    8. Wang, Lan & Lee, Eric W.M. & Hussian, Syed Asad & Yuen, Anthony Chun Yin & Feng, Wei, 2021. "Quantitative impact analysis of driving factors on annual residential building energy end-use combining machine learning and stochastic methods," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    9. Massidda, Luca & Marrocu, Marino, 2023. "Total and thermal load forecasting in residential communities through probabilistic methods and causal machine learning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    10. Greggio, Nicolas & Balugani, Enrico & Carlini, Carlotta & Contin, Andrea & Labartino, Nicola & Porcelli, Roberto & Quaranta, Marta & Righi, Serena & Vogli, Luciano & Marazza, Diego, 2019. "Theoretical and unused potential for residual biomasses in the Emilia Romagna Region (Italy) through a revised and portable framework for their categorization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 590-606.
    11. Pappalardo, G. & Selvaggi, R. & Pecorino, B., 2022. "Biomethane production potential in Southern Italy: An empirical approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    12. Gróf, Gyula & Janky, Béla & Bethlendi, András, 2022. "Limits of household's energy efficiency improvements and its consequence – A case study for Hungary," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    13. Kheiri, Farshad & Haberl, Jeff S. & Baltazar, Juan-Carlos, 2023. "Impact of outdoor humidity conditions on building energy performance and environmental footprint in the degree days-based climate classification," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    14. Ciulla, G. & D'Amico, A., 2019. "Building energy performance forecasting: A multiple linear regression approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    15. Ohlsson, K.E. Anders & Nair, Gireesh & Olofsson, Thomas, 2022. "Uncertainty in model prediction of energy savings in building retrofits: Case of thermal transmittance of windows," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    16. Billio, Monica & Casarin, Roberto & Costola, Michele & Veggente, Veronica, 2024. "Learning from experts: Energy efficiency in residential buildings," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    17. Valenti, Francesca & Porto, Simona M.C. & Dale, Bruce E. & Liao, Wei, 2018. "Spatial analysis of feedstock supply and logistics to establish regional biogas power generation: A case study in the region of Sicily," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 50-63.
    18. Ángel Pitarch & María José Ruá & Lucía Reig & Inés Arín, 2020. "Contribution of Roof Refurbishment to Urban Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-20, October.
    19. Lesley Thomson & David Jenkins, 2023. "The Use of Real Energy Consumption Data in Characterising Residential Energy Demand with an Inventory of UK Datasets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-29, August.
    20. Wiethe, Christian & Wenninger, Simon, 2023. "The influence of building energy performance prediction accuracy on retrofit rates," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:17:p:5508-:d:628614. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.