Polyurethane green building materials ushered in new opportunities
Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development proposed to continuously improve the energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in the construction sector, and accelerate the improvement of the quality of green and low-carbon development in the construction sector.
As a widely used insulation material with excellent performance in the construction industry, the industry generally believes that with the release of the "plan", it is expected to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the polyurethane industry and the development of green innovation, and polyurethane green building materials are expected to usher in new opportunities for development.
Ultra-low energy buildings are supported by policies
This year's "Government Work Report" put forward the expected target of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by about 2.5%. The construction sector is one of the main areas of energy consumption and carbon emissions in China. Accelerating the promotion of energy conservation and carbon reduction in the construction sector is of great significance to achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality and promoting high-quality development.
The plan puts forward specific goals for the development of green buildings and ultra-low energy buildings. By 2025, the system of energy conservation and carbon reduction in the building sector will be more sound, new buildings in cities and towns will fully implement green building standards, and the construction area of new ultra-low energy consumption and near-zero energy consumption will increase by more than 200 million square meters compared with 2023, and positive progress will be made in energy conservation and carbon reduction in the building sector. By 2027, ultra-low energy consumption buildings will achieve large-scale development, and significant results will be achieved in energy conservation and carbon reduction in the building sector.
In the face of the arduous task of energy conservation and carbon reduction, China has increased the promotion of ultra-low energy consumption buildings, and gradually improved building energy efficiency standards and energy management systems. In April 2022, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development approved the General Code for Building Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Utilization (GB 55015-2021) clearly stipulates that new construction, expansion and renovation of buildings and energy-saving renovation of existing buildings shall be subject to building energy-saving design. Shanghai, Beijing, Hebei, Guangdong and other places have also successively introduced policies related to ultra-low energy buildings.
The polyurethane building materials market has a broad space
With the continuous improvement of energy conservation and carbon reduction requirements in the construction industry, environmentally friendly polyurethane building materials will gain greater market space because they meet the demand for materials for low-carbon buildings. For example, polyurethane insulation materials with excellent thermal insulation properties and low thermal conductivity can improve the thermal insulation performance of buildings, and polyurethane materials with excellent mechanical properties and recyclable can replace traditional building materials and reduce the generation of construction waste. With the progress of science and technology and the increase of research and development efforts, polyurethane materials have great prospects in energy conservation and carbon reduction.
According to the latest research report released by Tiantian Chemical Network, the introduction of the "plan" will promote polyurethane enterprises to strengthen research and development, develop green and low-carbon building materials, such as energy-saving system doors and windows, thermal insulation sandwich panels, spraying insulation foam and other polyurethane low-carbon building products, in order to meet the high standard requirements of low-carbon buildings for materials and promote green and low-carbon development in the construction field.
Enterprises seize the green building materials market
Driven by policies, polyurethane companies are actively seizing the green building materials market and accelerating product development and market expansion. Jin Yanli, senior manager of the marketing department of Wanhua Chemical, said that the green and low-carbon building materials system solutions provided by Wanhua Chemical for the building energy conservation industry cover a new generation of polyisocyanurate (PIR) insulation products, glass fiber reinforced polyurethane door and window curtain wall profiles, formaldehyde-free wood-based panels, water-based coating raw materials and other main products, and upgrade from materials to solution systems, which can improve building energy efficiency and help achieve the zero-carbon goal of the construction industry. "Taking the PIR insulation product developed by Wanhua Chemical as an example, the thermal conductivity of the material is lower, and as a wall insulation material, it can be thinner, the surface layer load torque is smaller, and the risk of falling off and fire is lower, making the wall system safer and more energy-saving. Jin Yanli said.
At the end of last year, Wanhua Talent Center, a demonstration project integrating Wanhua's green building materials solutions, was officially put into use. "The project adopts passive energy-saving technology and renewable energy utilization technology, and applies the integrated wall of new polyurethane structure insulation, the integration of polyurethane spraying roof insulation and waterproofing, the integration of polyurethane spraying floor insulation and sound insulation, and the glass fiber reinforced polyurethane door and window curtain wall system, etc., and the indoor configuration of ground source heat pump central air conditioning, and the installation of cadmium telluride power generation glass on the roof of the gymnasium, which can not only be used for daily electricity of the building, but also can be integrated into the power grid. Jin Yanli told reporters that the comprehensive energy consumption value of the Wanhua Talent Center building is about 50kWh/m2·a, which can save about 60% energy compared with traditional buildings.
In recent years, Huntsman has also been committed to innovation in the field of energy-efficient building materials. The company has developed Taroyo recycled polyester polyols, which are 60% made from recycled PET plastic, reducing the carbon footprint of building materials at the production stage. Huntsman is committed to providing energy-saving and carbon-reduction momentum for near-zero-energy buildings by continuously building four major application scenarios of polyurethane low-carbon building products, including housing insulation platform, building composite platform, building sound insulation platform, and airtightness/waterproof platform.
The thermal insulation of windows and doors is also a key factor in the energy consumption of buildings. Polyurethane composites have the advantages of good thermal insulation performance and high mechanical properties, and are excellent solutions for doors and windows to achieve ultra-low energy consumption and near-zero energy buildings. The energy-saving window profiles made from polyurethane composites developed by Covestro with high strength and excellent thermal insulation properties can further help the construction industry achieve energy conservation and carbon reduction.
Sun Yu, chairman of Jiangsu Meisid Chemical Co., Ltd., said that the increase in demand for green building materials has also brought new opportunities to polyurethane additives. As a comprehensive solution provider of polyurethane foam additives, Meisid actively carries out the integrated application innovation and industrialization collaborative layout of specialized, serialized and green additives, and helps to develop new energy-saving wall materials, insulation boards, insulation pipes, sandwich materials, spraying foams and other new polyurethane products.
