Environmental impacts and thermal insulation performance of innovative composite solutions for building applications

• Life Cycle Assessment method was applied to four composite systems for buildings.
• Thermal characterization of the materials under study was carried out.
• An eco-sandwich containing cork, plant derived epoxy resin and flax fibre is proposed.

For buildings applications, an optimum material solution would have the essential structural properties of concrete but with lower thermal conductivity. The reduced thermal conductivity provides a better thermal insulation system that consumes less energy for cooling and heating in the use phase. In the present study, thermal conductivity analysis and environmental analysis were carried out for various materials that are intended for use as external walls for buildings. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to evaluate the environmental impacts of four different proposed systems.An eco-sandwich material containing cork, flax fibres and bio-based epoxy resin as natural materials was manufactured and tested in order to evaluate the thermal conductivity. The use of the eco-sandwich in building structure seems to bring several advantages in terms of innovation, good insulation properties and light-weight structures. The LCA results show that when the eco-sandwich is used, the environmental performance is lower compared to other traditional materials, in the manufacture phase. Nevertheless, impacts due to material transportation and installation could be lowered due to the light weight and handling of the eco-sandwich.