Analysis on existent thermal insulating plasters towards innovative applications: Evaluation methodology for a real cost-performance comparison

Thermal insulating plasters are an important means to face the energy efficiency issues in building field, above all in renovation processes. New solutions, such as nanotechnology or aerogel based plasters, could make a significant contribution to this field, reaching higher level of thermal performance and reducing needed thickness. But, in order to be really suitable for the market, new plaster solutions have to answer to specific economical and technical needs. This research provides an overall analysis of thermal insulating plasters in European market, comparing existing products according to technical specifications and economical features. The main goal of this survey is to drive researches in thermal plasters fields towards innovative application, creating new plasters able to meets real market and end-users demands. Technical cross assessment considers three main factors, defined according to European standards: volume mass powder, dry bulk density of hardened mortar and thermal conductivity. Benchmarking analysis compares prices per unit, in order to relate material quantity to the achieving of common R-x value. Cross assessments results allow to define thermal, technical and economical requirements that new thermal insulating plasters have to meet to be suitable for European volume market. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.