MAS & ENVIRONMENT
Environmental protection already begins at the production
Waste often begins even before the construction of buildings, namely in the production of building materials. Many building materials are produced with a high energy input and sometimes with a high level of waste.
The prevention of material waste in the cons- truction industry is one of the greatest chal- lenges of our time. Since this is not the case in the production of polymer concrete, decisive advantages are al- ready achieved in the life cycle assessment of this building material from the beginning.
There is also no waste in the construction of buildings with MAS elements, since only as many elements are used as are needed and further consumables and auxiliary materials are not necessary. Another positive aspect for the life cycle as- sessment is that on-site production using lo- cal materials drastically minimises transport costs and that no heavy construction equip- ment is required for assembly.
The service life of conventionally constructed buildings varies between 20 and 50 years, depending on the location and climatic con- ditions. At the end of this period, these buildings are in need of renovation or are demolished and re- placed by new buildings. The original building material is hardly ever reused.
The material of the MAS system, on the other hand, has about twice the life and can be re- cycled and reused at any time.
The ecological advantages at a glance
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While cement production accounts for more than seven percent of total CO² emissions worldwide, the production of polymer concrete hardly consumes any energy because the reaction process takes place as a reactive process without heat input. For this reason alone, the global footprint of polymer concrete is significantly lower than that of conventional concrete products.
Ecological assessment of the MAS- construction
elements in comparison to conventional concrete
Due to waste, rejects and surplus production, conventional houses have to provide approx. 20% more material than is actually used. Due to the detailed planning and brick-precise production, this additional consumption is eliminated for PolyCare houses made of polymer concrete. There is no additional production or waste.
An ecological evaluation according to DIN EN ISO 14040/14044 has shown that polymer concrete, due to its longevity, reusability, the potential renunciation of classical building sand and the possibility of using recycled materials, can represent an innovative, sustainable and promising alternative to the classical building industry based on cement concrete.
If PolyCare succeeds in producing 50,000 small residential units in the next few years, this will already save around 1 million tons of CO2. By way of comparison, the CO2 footprint of a polymer concrete-based house* is over 60 % lower than that of a cement-concrete-based house.
Polymer concrete is already an innovative, sustainable and promising alternative to classic cement concrete because of its longevity, reusability and the absence of sand from ecologically questionable sources.
