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An assessment of the thermal storage capacity of hemp-lime using the Transient Performance Ratio method

2017-06-21, Kinnane, Oliver, Reilly, Aidan

Many claims are made regarding the superior thermal performance of high heat capacity materials under the general heading of thermal mass. However, the benefits of thermal mass are poorly quantified in existing literature. These issues often become more important in the case of biobased materials, where thick, monolithic wall construction leads to a stronger connection between a building's structure and the indoor environment. New materials include hemp-lime concrete, which offers a combination of structural, thermal and hygroscopic properties that make it suitable for incorporation into the building envelope. Hemp-lime has long been proposed to offer excellent thermal mass performance, yet this impact is poorly quantified in existing literature. This paper uses the Transient Energy Ratio (TER) method, developed by these authors, to compare the performance of hemp-lime concrete walls with traditional solid wall and cavity wall constructions.

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What is a sustainable or low impact concrete?

2019-06-26, Kinnane, Oliver, O'Hegarty, Richard, Reilly, Aidan

This paper compares a range of new and proposed 'greener' concretes and evaluates their environmental impact via quantification of their embodied energy. These new concretes are further compared with bio based concretes so as to develop a broad picture of the relative environmental impact of the increasing array of concretes now available to building designers. Some uses, advantages and disadvantages of each type are discussed. Particularly the quantity and volume of concrete material for each specific use case is considered for comparison of the embodied energy for a square meter of building envelope structure. Results show that bio based concretes have considerably lower impact than standard concretes, as exhibited by much lower embodied energies per kilogram of material. However, those values documented in only a few studies, and further repeatedly referenced in the wider literature, are approximate at best and sometimes inaccurate. Ultra high performance and geopolymer concretes have higher embodied energies but due to their high strengths less material is used, giving them a low environmental impact advantage over standard concrete materials. However, claims that these concretes are many multiples less impactful is widely inaccurate, and misleading promotion. In a similar vein, this work also questions the claims of carbon negativity of popular bio based concretes, such as hemp-lime. Investigation of the means of carbon sequestration and the difficulties in its quantification are discussed. More realistic estimates of the energy embodied of hemp-lime are used for calculation of the embodied energy, and carbon, for walls sized appropriate to low energy architecture.