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Effects Region and Country
Material
Water m 2
Energy
Surface
fields
Europe
Austria
Resource Efficiency
The resource requirements decrease considerably when
using renewable primary products and minimal fossil and
mineral materials. The production of the straw wall causes
a clearly lower ecological footprint than a comparable conventional
wall construction, which has an up a ten times
larger ecological footprint. Also the low energy demand of
the S-HOUSE is noteworthy. An annual energy consumption
of 6 kWh/m² is reached by an optimal insulation and
the use of passive house technologies. This is significantly
lower than the demanding standard for passive houses (15
kWh/m2 ).
Barriers and Risks
Components and measures for resource-efficient econom-
ic activities in the building industry are already used on
a large scale. Nevertheless, by a combination of different
attempts further research and development is required to
realise efficient system solutions with low expenditures. For
this purpose available databases of primary products have
to be adapted to the requirements of the building industry.
According to the differing demands in regards to building
types coordinated work flow and communication processes
have to take place between involved actors like architects,
craftsmen and engineers. So far instead of finished
modules individual solutions are used, which lead to higher
costs. Furthermore, high initial investments can arise and
building restrictions can complicate the implementation.
The insulating effect and the reaction of straw to fire were
tested in comprehensive preliminary studies. However,
prejudices concerning deficient structural-physical attributes
are prevalent.
Potentials
Higher requirements for old and new buildings on federal
and EU level such as, for example, energy saving regulations
and comprehensive supporting possibilities, will lead
to an increase in renovation and new building construction.
Reduction of energy demand to a tenth compared
with today’s best available technology and use of renewable
primary products may lead to a widespread dispersal
of this building technology based on renewable products,
while energy and primary product costs are increasing.
Further information
GrAT-Gruppe Angepasste Technologie
Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10
1040 Wien, Austria
contact@grat.at
www.grat.at
Ressourceneffizienzatlas
Resource Efficiency Atlas 57