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2025 Vol.16, Issue 2 Preview Page

General Article

Enhancing the energy, environmental, and economic efficiency of a building through life cycle assessment: A Moroccan case study
Chaimaa Khouya1*
,
Kaoutar Ouali2
,
Rachida Idchabani3
1PhD Student, Higher National School of Mines (ENSMR exENIM), Rabat, Morocco
2Professor, MANAPSE, Faculty of Sciences, Mohamed V University in Rabat, Morocco
3Professor, Higher National School of Mines (ENSMR exENIM), Rabat, Morocco
*Corresponding Author
30 June 2025. pp. 208-219
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Abstract

The improvement of the buildings envelope performances is the key to achieve energy efficiency and environment preservation in the building sector, by the optimization of the thermal insulation. This improvement should be analyzed in a global vision to guarantee the accuracy, by taking into consideration the building entire lifetime. In this context, the present study compares the performances of three different types of thermal insulation materials; Extruded Polystyrene, Rockwool and the cork boards, using a Life Cycle Assessment approach for a typical construction prototype in the city of IFRANE, through a Dynamic Thermal Simulation, with regards to determine the optimum type and thickness of the thermal insulation material. The results of the DTS show that the application of the minimal values of the insulation material thickness, required by the Moroccan regulation, cannot always guarantee the level of energetic performances needed. Numeric results reveal that the embodied energy can represent up to 32% of the total energy consumed in the building’s lifetime, and the embodied carbon is expressed as a percentage of 15 to 18% of the total carbon emissions. Furthermore, being a natural organic material cannot be the best solution to contribute to the diminishing of dioxide of carbon emissions.

Keywords
thermal insulation
life cycle assessment
embodied energy
embodied carbon
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Information
  • Publisher :Sustainable Building Research Center (ERC) Innovative Durable Building and Infrastructure Research Center
  • Publisher(Ko) :건설구조물 내구성혁신 연구센터
  • Journal Title :International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology and Urban Development
  • Volume : 16
  • No :2
  • Pages :208-219
  • Received Date : 2024-12-07
  • Accepted Date : 2025-03-17
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.22712/susb.20250013
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