There is such a good material - expanded polystyrene, and we wrote about how it is used in Europe and Russia, and even whole islands are designed with it! However, the use of expanded polystyrene in Russia does not yet correspond to the European level.
The first practical conference "Polymers in Thermal Insulation 2014" was held in Moscow, at the InterContinental Hotel. The conference was organized by the information and analytical center RUPEC and the national industry magazine "Oil and Gas Vertical" with information support from RIA ARD. The event was sponsored by the SIBUR holding, the flagship of the Russian petrochemical industry, the manufacturer of expandable polystyrene Alphapor.
The conference brought together representatives of SIBUR, Penoplex, TechnoNIKOL, LNPP, Henkel, the National Agency for Low-Rise and Cottage Construction (NAMIKS), the ANFAS External Facade Systems Association, VNIIPO EMERCOM of Russia, the Federal Chamber of Fire and rescue industry and security”, Association“NAPPAN”, NIISF RAASN, National Association of Builders NOSTROY, APPP, etc.
The organizers and participants of the conference focused on the discussion of the most pressing problems associated with the expansion of the introduction of polymer thermal insulation materials (PTIM) into the construction complex of Russia.
The conference participants paid special attention to:
- manufacturers' assessment of the situation on the PTIM market;
- changes in the field of the regulatory framework and technical regulation of the use of PTIM;
- the topic of fire safety of PTIM and building structures in which they are used;
- analysis of the experience of using PTIM and the reasons for the existing restrictions on their use in the Russian Federation;
- Prospects for the introduction of innovative types of PTIM in domestic construction.
It should be noted that similar events were held in the past, however, many problems of concern to manufacturers of PTIM and developers of building insulation systems have remained outside the scope of public discussion. Therefore, the organizers of the First Practical Conference "Polymers in Thermal Insulation 2014" set themselves the task of attracting as many participants of the PTIM market and specialists involved in legislative and regulatory regulation of the use and quality control of polymer facade thermal insulation materials to the consideration of existing problems.
The need to reduce energy losses in the residential sector and the urgent need for the introduction of energy efficient technologies in construction was indicated in federal legislation back in 2009. At the same time, in the basic law, the semantic content of such concepts as “energy efficiency” and “energy saving” does not have a clear definition, and it is extremely difficult for an ordinary person to grasp the essence of these terms. Therefore, the declared concept of energy efficient construction did not receive further development and was not implemented.
You need to understand that the shift in focus towards energy efficiency involves more than following certain rules when designing buildings. The principle of energy efficiency should be implemented by changing the concept of capital repairs of buildings, creating favorable conditions for introducing the latest high-tech technologies into the Russian construction complex, rethinking the obviously outdated regulatory framework in the field of fire safety, which unjustifiably hinders the technological renewal of construction. In addition, it is necessary to reform the management system for housing and communal services and all related infrastructure, etc. Thus, it becomes obvious that the transfer of construction to the rails of energy-efficient technologies is impossible without a comprehensive, systematic and simultaneous revision of a huge mass of regulatory documents of the most varied levels.
As for the conference, the acuteness of the discussion that unfolded at it once again confirmed that the most needed industry regulations are outdated even at the stage of their development and do not correspond to the realities of our time. In particular, the current FZ-123 "Technical regulations on fire safety requirements", which, according to the conference participants, clearly hinders the use of the latest PTIM in enclosing structures, does not define and does not consider such well-known concepts as "building structures", " cladding”,“finishing of external surfaces of external walls”. At the same time, these terms are still present in the text of FZ-123, which is the reason for the misinterpretation of the content of the relevant articles of the law and creates obstacles to the use of polymer thermal insulation. In particular, since FZ-123 "Technical regulations on fire safety requirements" does not contain the term "finishing of external surfaces", guided by part 11 of Art. 87 Engineers, architects and expert bodies often classify external wall insulation made of effective polymeric materials as elements of "external surface finishing", which, of course, is categorically incorrect. Due to the fact that the article of the law allows for the possibility of a double interpretation of its content, the designers, just in case, try not to include polymeric thermal insulation materials in the enclosing structures, despite the fact that the concepts of "finishing" and "facing" are contained in the second level regulatory documents “Fire protection systems. Ensuring fire resistance of objects of protection ", and the content of Part 11 of Art. 87 FZ-123 absolutely coincides with paragraph 3.8 of SP 2.13130.2012. Based on this, at the conference it was decided to apply to the VNIIPO EMERCOM of the Russian Federation with a request to include in FZ-123 such concepts as "finishing of external surfaces", "cladding" and "building structures", which will help to avoid ambiguity in the interpretation of the Federal Law. In addition, according to the conference participants, it is necessary to supplement part 11 of FZ-123 with a clarifying wording: “In buildings and structures of I - III degrees of fire resistance, except for low-rise residential buildings (up to 3 floors inclusive) that meet the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on urban planning activities, it is not allowed to finish the external surfaces of external walls from materials of flammability groups G2 - G4, and facade systems must comply with the requirements of the fire hazard class of building structures not lower than K1. " In the same document there are definitions that allow for a very loose law enforcement, which in a number of regions of the country turns into a de facto ban on the use of facade systems with polymer thermal insulation materials. In particular, in paragraph 11 of Art. 87 contains the requirement that "facade systems must not spread combustion." The conference participants came to the conclusion that this provision should be concretized: "must meet the requirements of the fire hazard class of building structures not lower than K1" Thus, on the one hand, the required level of security will be achieved, and on the other, this clarification will allow avoiding discriminatory interpretations.
Further: in the opinion of the conference participants, it is necessary that the specialists of the VNIIPO EMERCOM of the Russian Federation keep statistical records of fires and their consequences at those facilities where facade systems with certain thermal insulation materials were used. This will make it possible to correlate the number of facades with PTIM with the number of fires and, ultimately, to convince the public that the quantitative indicator of fires associated with the use of polymer thermal insulation materials in the facade system is negligible. The true causes of fires are negligence in the construction and installation work and improper handling of fire.
This problem is followed by another: in our country there is no objective system of accounting for the causes of fires, the nature of the damaging factors and consequences. It is well known that most often fires occur in rooms, and the most serious consequences are the exposure of people to the products of combustion of various materials inside buildings. It is quite obvious that under such conditions, excessive fire requirements for the enclosing structures from the position of regulation do not significantly affect the safety of people. This fact clearly demonstrates the flawed principle of domestic regulation, when restrictions operate largely for the sake of the restrictions themselves. This circumstance led the conference participants to a unanimous opinion: to recommend the EMERCOM of Russia and the Federal State Budgetary Institution VNIIPO EMERCOM of the Russian Federation to include in the fire statistics system an assessment of how the characteristics of facade systems and external insulation materials affect the safety of people.
Fire requirements, which create barriers to energy efficiency, are only one of the pressing problems of the PTEM industry. Among other reasons preventing the construction complex from following the path of energy efficiency, the participants in the discussion pointed to the fact that federal legislation (in particular, the Housing Code) does not provide for mandatory insulation of the facades of apartment buildings during capital repairs funded by the Fund for Assistance to the Reform of Housing and Communal Services. This cannot be called anything other than nonsense: on the one hand, there is a task to reduce energy consumption in the housing stock by 30% by 2020, on the other hand, there are no prerequisites for any tangible renewal of the housing stock by this time. In such conditions, thermal insulation of facades during major repairs is one of the few ways to increase the energy efficiency of buildings without rebuilding, since up to 60% of the heat is lost through the enclosing structures. Nevertheless, contrary to common sense, facade insulation is not a mandatory measure. The reaction to this state of affairs was the decision of the conference participants to contact the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation with a proposal at the legislative level to include in the minimum list of measures to improve energy efficiency during major repairs, facade insulation using polymer materials.
The technical regulation system also sets its "slingshots" on the way of introducing the latest technologies into the design process of new energy-efficient buildings. In particular, such a necessary document as SP 50.13330.2012 "Thermal protection of buildings", aimed at implementing the state doctrine of increasing energy efficiency, is distinguished by clearly archaic ideas, for example, about the density and humidity of such a modern material as a polystyrene foam board, which leads to errors in thermal conductivity calculations. In addition, the JV itself, as a document, seems to be quite difficult to apply, which is fraught with additional difficulties associated with passing the examination. A representative of Mosgosexpertiza pointed out this in his speech, since when approving projects, the experts use the previous un-updated version of SNiP 23-02-2003. Therefore, at the conference, it was recommended that NIISF RAASN, the developer of SP 50.13330.2012, prepare methodological recommendations that would make it possible to effectively use this joint venture in the design and during the examination.
The reorganization of the Ministry of Regional Development also hinders the improvement of regulatory regulation, which led to a slowdown in the development of the "Strategy for the development of the building materials industry for the period until 2020", as well as the fact that this document does not include a section on the latest energy-efficient materials, which include polymer thermal insulation. It is not clear how the principles of energy efficiency can be introduced into construction, if there is not even a mention of energy efficient materials? This means that it is necessary to contact the Ministry of Construction with a proposal to speed up the work on this document, and to introduce a special section into it concerning PTIM. This decision was unanimously supported by all conference participants.
Industry experts believe that an increase in the consumption of building polymers by Russia to the level of developed European countries can increase the potential of the domestic market by 25%, which will have a positive effect on the investment climate of the industry. The development of the petrochemical industry is vital for Russia. Against the background of a rapidly falling profitability from the export of hydrocarbons, an increase in obligations to the population, it is necessary to look for and develop new, not always unpopular sources of filling the treasury. Obviously, in such conditions, the desire to improve the energy efficiency of the construction sector should dictate the course for the further development and modernization of the petrochemical industry. Instead, the forward-looking energy efficiency strategy still exists as separate documents and does not find application in the most important areas of material production. It is not surprising that the participants of the First Practical Conference "Polymers in Thermal Insulation" had a feeling that positive progress in the field of energy efficiency and the introduction of new technologies will occur not as a result of modernization of the regulatory framework, but independently of this process. The reason is that members of the industry community are distinguished by a very high level of professionalism and competence, and in addition, they are characterized by a rare unanimity in assessing the tasks they face, including from the standpoint of their social significance.
