Non-traditional Building Insulation Materials

Considering the European Union, the construction and built environment sector is responsible for 5–12% of total greenhouse gas emissions in connection with the extraction of materials and the manufacture of construction products. It has been estimated that more efficient materials could save 80% of CO2 emissions. Intervening to make buildings sustainable does not only mean insulating the envelopes or improving their performance, but also considering the embodied energy, by valorizing alternative materials, such as recycled and plant-origin materials. The study of the state of the art highlighted the lack of cross-sectoral integrated management strategies for material resource flows, especially when referring to non-traditional materials. A very important aspect is therefore to stimulate the construction sector to “open up” experimentally towards new materials and their alternative supply chains. For these considerations, this chapter presents an in-depth study of insulating products made from plant-origin and recycled materials in the construction sector, making comparative analyses of the main thermal performances and SWOT analysis. The last section proposes a possible application scenario for school buildings in the Italian context that represent a large part of existing building stock and therefore can have a considerable impact on the SDGs 2030.