Low-carbon facade materials play a decisive role in reducing the environmental impact of buildings. With the NÉOMINÉRAL® innovation, Orsol offers a high-end cladding solution compatible with low-carbon construction projects.
The low-carbon principle
Low-carbon neighborhoods, architecture and equipment: all these projects have in common the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout their lifecycle.
How to assess the environmental impact of materials?
A material’s life cycle extends from the moment it is collected or extracted to the moment it is recycled, recovered or reused after the building has been demolished.
In the meantime, the material will have been transformed, using processes that are more or less energy-intensive and/or polluting. It will have been transported, with an inevitably higher carbon footprint for resources geographically distant from the construction site.
The ultimate low-carbon material is one that is produced locally, undergoes little processing and can be easily recycled at the end of its life cycle. The conditions of installation are not insignificant either.
Exemplary projects in this field rely heavily on off-site assembly to reduce constraints and lead times, and consequently the number of carbon-intensive return trips made by professionals.
The weight of materials in a building’s carbon footprint
On a building scale, materials have a major impact. The least eco-responsible materials have production processes that consume fossil fuels and water. This is the case with aluminum and steel, which consume a lot of energy and water for cooling. The use of recycled metals is a good way of minimizing this footprint.
It is also possible to mobilize materials whose initial production process is more virtuous. These include bio-sourced and geo-sourced materials such as wood and natural stone . Favoring these locally available resources is an essential lever for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The role of facades in reducing carbon emissions
The carbon weight of the façade has been estimated at between 8% and 25% of the building’s total footprint. A considerable share calculated on the basis of several multi-family housing and office construction projects, as part of a study by the French Institute for Building Performance (Ifpeb) and the Carbone 4 consultancy, published in 2022.
The study reveals several ways in which facades can improve their carbon footprint. The use of less carbon-intensive materials is naturally encouraged, underlining the environmental impact of the type of exterior cladding, but architectural choices also play a role.
Glass walls are both more carbon-intensive and less decarbonizing. In other words, the prospects for optimizing the energy efficiency of a generously glazed building are slimmer. Here,traditional architecture seems to come out on top, with glazing-efficient facades and the use of locally available materials.
RE2020 2025 threshold requirements
The RE2020 environmental regulation provides for new emission thresholds to be phased in by 2031 to encourage low-carbon construction. The aim is to reduce the sector’s GHG emissions by 30%.
The facade and its external joinery are among the batches taken into account in the calculation of the IC construction indicator to assess the impact of products and equipment used on a building site on the environment.
Between 2022 and 2024, the maximum value of the CI for house construction was 640 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per square meter (kg CO2 eq/m²). It falls to 530 kg CO2 eq/m² for the period 2025 – 2027, reaching 415 kg CO2 eq/m² by 2031.
NÉOMINÉRAL®, Orsol’s low-carbon cladding solution
Orsol, a specialist in top-of-the-range cladding made in France, offers creative and innovative solutions that enhance characterful architecture and the unique charm of natural stone. Thanks to the composition and production conditions of its NÉOMINÉRAL® material, Orsol offers an alternative for low-carbon building facades.
Composed of 99% mineral-based materials, its various colors are obtained using natural pigments. The cold production process, based on the pozzolanic reaction, maintains a low level of CO2 emissions. Production waste and water are fully recycled.
Manufacturing in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region reduces transport-related emissions. Orsol’s suppliers are all European, and 93% are based in France. The installation system, validated by the CSTB, is simple and complies with the performance requirements expected in the construction industry.
NÉOMINÉRAL® responds to the need for low-carbon materials capable of meeting the increasingly stringent environmental impact requirements of the building industry.