Calcium silicate bonded with sodium silicate. Although it is popularly considered an asbestos substitute, early uses of calcium silicate for insulation still made use of asbestos fibers. It is used in passive fire protection and fireproofing as calcium silicate brick or in roof tiles. It is one of the most successful materials in fireproofing in Europe because of regulations and fire safety guidelines for commercial and residential building codes (see Calcium Silicate use in Europe). Where North Americans use spray fireproofing plasters, Europeans are more likely to use cladding made of calcium silicate. High-performance calcium-silicate boards retain their excellent dimensional stability even
Building insulation efforts are needed to avoid the problems that caused by the traditional insulation material- Styrofoam, and a detailed regulation should be published to improve the thermal performance of residential and commercial buildings. Germany established its requirements of building energy efficiency in 1977, and the first energy code-the Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV) which based on the building performance was introduced in 2002. And the 2009 version of the Energy Saving Ordinance increased the minimum R-values of the thermal insulation of the building shell and introduced requirements for air-tightness tests. The Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV) 2013 clarified the requirement of thermal insulation