"PERFORMANCE WALLS" and Sustainability in Zero Energy Buildings
Sustainability, with its social, economic, and environmental pillars, is becoming a more significant topic with an increasing awareness all over the world since the environmental problems are growing day by day on the planet we live in. Buildings have a large impact on the environment in terms of both construction and its usage processes. Thus, sustainable construction methods in buildings are gaining more and more importance.
The negative impacts on the environment have started to accelerate day by day with the developing manufacturing technologies and increasing population. Undesirable developments such as the rapid increase in manufacture and consumption, the consequent increase in energy consumption, the depletion of natural resources, climate changes due to global warming, decrease in animal and plant species diversity, environmental pollution, etc., have become a threat to the future of humanity. Accordingly, in the current century, to examine manufacture and consumption activities, studies have started in the triangle of sustainability, environmental effects, and transparency in their declaration.
The Saint-Gobain Group has established an eco-innovation policy to develop new materials reducing the environmental impact of buildings. In line with this, Rigips tries to reduce these effects by offering eco-friendly, efficient, and innovative products and solutions for the construction industry with the sustainable approaches it has developed.
Gypsum-based materials are used in drywall systems used in Performance Walls. Gypsum-based material obtained from gypsum has been used as a construction material for more than five thousand years due to its durability and safety. Gypsum is a sustainable material inherently, as its raw material is a 100% recyclable natural material. In Performance Walls, recycled paper is used in the production of plasterboards, which is a component of this system, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect natural resources. In addition, these systems formed by plasterboards provide fire resistance, sound insulation, acoustic arrangement, heat insulation, moisture and water resistance, impact resistance, and indoor air quality together with appropriate system components.
Transferences and experiences that will be left to the future generations with our environmental awareness can be provided with the proper materials and applications due to accurate calculations. With the awareness of indoor comfort quality and environmental impacts, accepting that each individual has a responsibility to society, awareness-raising activities have gained great importance.
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Indoor comfort quality means the proper materials and proper applications of the walls, floors, and suspended ceiling forming the interior. When we say Performance Walls, it put forwards some features expected from a wall. Because the wall is not only a partition element but also a concept that brings earthquake resistance, fire safety, heat, and sound insulation, needed for the sustainable comfort design.
Comfort is a concept demanded in the interior. Because the end-user, who has not experienced what comfort is before, cannot know what both safety and comfort provided are. At this point, Performance Walls come forward for interior walls that will provide the right comfort within the framework of regulations and standards. The drywall systems used in Performance Walls can show much higher performance than traditional methods.
Performance Walls – Earthquake:
It has been observed that the load on the building during the earthquake has a direct proportion to the weight of the building. Performance Walls, created with plasterboard systems, provide an advantageous application with the lightness in terms of the load it brings to the building, especially in earthquake zones. Since plasterboard systems are light and flexible, they allow the building to be exposed to lower forces during an earthquake and minimizing the damage that may occur by lightening the structure. Besides, the use of lightweight materials instead of heavy building materials will facilitate search and rescue efforts, and castaways trapped under lightweight systems will have a higher chance to survive. Performance Walls, which are adaptable to the movements of the building during an earthquake, are preferred in terms of the safety of life and property.
Performance Walls – Thermal Insulation:
Energy efficiency targets have a very significant place in the basis of national strategic goals such as the effectiveness of the fight against climate change, ensuring the security of supply in energy, sustainability of energy costs, and minimizing the risks arising from external dependence. Although plaster and plasterboard are not thermal insulation materials, high-Performance Walls working together with thermal insulation materials and bearing profiles are indispensable elements of system solutions. By Performance Walls system solutions, the energy need of the building by providing high thermal insulation performance both throughout the building and between different spaces within the building are reduced. The thermal resistance of the interior walls is critical in providing different comfort conditions in different environments within the same building. Besides, by means of Performance Wall to be formed with profiled plasterboard systems from the inside and/or outside of the exterior walls, it helps to prevent undesirable heat losses in the building, help to save energy used for heating in winter and cooling in summer and provide sustainable comfort conditions.
Performance Walls – Fire Safety:
The potential flammable amount in the building is the flammable load. It includes both the structural elements and the constant or live loads inside the building. Deaths in a fire are mostly the result of poisoning by inhaling toxic gases. The smoke generation potential of materials is known as a smoke load. Gypsum is a non-flammable material and has been recognized for centuries of fire protection. The fire resistance of Performance Walls created with plasterboard systems is effective in passive protection of the building and people against fire. Performance Walls tested in the laboratory provide resistance against fire from EI30 to EI120. How many minutes of protection is needed in which area is specified in the Fire Regulation. How long the Performance Walls should not conduct both high heat and smoke during the fire are determined according to the design. Choosing the proper strength of the Performance Wall is very important for security.
Performance Walls – Sound Insulation:
Noise pollution has been increasing continuously since the 1960s, and studies are carried out specifically on this subject. In places where noise control is crucial, indoor solutions have an essential and critical value in terms of sound insulation. On-site detail solutions to be created in architectural design will positively contribute to the perception and quality of the space. Preventing the transmission of sound from one place to another is realized by the solution of sound insulation as a system. The volume and building acoustics regulations play a significant role in meeting the comfort conditions. Building acoustics deals with the issues related to the transmission of sound or noise from the boundaries of enclosed volumes to inside or outside, and within this scope, it includes the sizing of the wall surfaces and the selection of appropriate materials. Performance Walls, which are created with plasterboard systems, provide both sound insulation and acoustic comfort with different detail solutions in the place. In this context, the regulation created for this purpose in our country plays an important role in determining the systems we will apply directly. The details created to achieve the limit values given in the regulation will increase indoor comfort. Performance walls have wide systems and technical performance standards to help you find the ideal solution while designing a place.
Today's contemporary living spaces are shaped with artificial materials alien to nature and human metabolism. Parallel to this change, people are gradually moving away from nature, which brings about the collapse of the environment. 90% of our lives are spent in indoor spaces we create artificially. Considering this situation, it gains significance that indoor spaces should be healthy and safe environments. Performance Walls are one of the most significant building elements that come forward both in designing and applying these places. Choosing the proper system will bring accurate solutions in the long run. Performance walls include plentiful sustainable solutions in many fields, from seismic design to thermal insulation, from fire safety to sound insulation. Rigips contributes to comfort, performance, and safety while providing solutions for topics such as resource efficiency, climate change, and sustainable buildings with the Performance Walls offered with its sustainability approach adopted in line with the importance it gives to the environment. In addition, it aims to reduce the environmental impact of its current activities by studying topics such as raw material management, waste, carbon emissions, and the effective use of water resources.
