How Can Existing Buildings with Historic Values Contribute to Achieving Emission Reduction Ambitions?

In line with the Paris Agreement, Norway aims for an up to 55% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and to be a low-emission society by 2050. Given that 85–90% of today’s buildings are expected to still be in use in 2050, refurbishment and adaptive reuse of existing buildings can help in achieving the environmental goals. The aim of this work is to provide a holistic picture of refurbishment and adaptive reuse of existing buildings, including buildings with heritage values, seen from a life cycle perspective. The methods applied are a literature review of LCA studies and experiences from quantitative case study analysis of selected Norwegian case studies. The findings show that extending the service life of existing buildings by refurbishment and adaptive reuse has significant possibilities in reducing GHG emissions, keeping cultural heritage values, and saving scarce raw material resources. The findings show limited LCA studies, uncertainties in existing LCA studies due to variations in case-specific refurbishment or intervention measures, and a lack of transparent and harmonized background data and methodological choices. In conclusion, performing a holistic study covering the whole LCA and including socio-cultural values and economic aspects will enable supporting an argument to assert the sustainability of existing buildings.

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Comparison of energy and greenhouse gas balances of biogas with other transport biofuel options based on domestic agricultural biomass in Finland

Agricultural and Food Science ◽

10.2137/145960608786118857 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 240 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

H. L. TUOMISTO ◽

J. HELENIUS

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Energy Input ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Raw Material ◽

Energy Output ◽

Published Data ◽

N2o Emissions ◽

Organic Farm ◽

Unit Energy ◽

Life Cycle Perspective

Biofuels have been promoted as a way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but it is questionable whether they indeed do so. The study compared energy and GHG balances of transport biofuels produced in Finnish conditions. Energy and GHG balances were calculated from a life cycle perspective for biogas when timothy-clover and reed canary grass silages and green manure of an organic farm were used as a raw material. The results were compared with published data on barley-based ethanol, rape methyl ester (biodiesel) and biowaste-based biogas. The energy input for biogas was 2237% of the output depending on the raw material. The GHG emissions from field-based biogas were 2136% of emissions from fossil-based fuels. The largest energy input was used in the processing of the biofuels while most of the greenhouse gases were emitted during farming. The GHG emissions of the field-based biogas were emitted mainly from fuels of farming machinery, nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions of the soil and the production of ensiling additives. The energy efficiency was most sensitive to the methane yield, and GHG emissions to the N2O emissions. Biogas had clearly lower energy input and GHG emissions per unit energy output than domestic barley-based ethanol and biodiesel.;

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Re Architecture: Old and New In Adaptive Reuse of Modern Industrial Heritage

10.32920/ryerson.14654532 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ava Moshaver

Keyword(s):

Design Process ◽

Theoretical Approach ◽

Industrial Structure ◽

Adaptive Reuse ◽

Industrial Site ◽

Existing Buildings ◽

Industrial Heritage ◽

Original Intent ◽

Spirit Of Place ◽

The 19Th Century

Adaptation of existing buildings for new functions is not a new phenomenon: the theoretical approach towards adaptive reuse was well established and theoretically formulated as early as at the beginning of the 19th century. However, very few authors address the issue of cultural meaning of a place - genius loci - when discussing the process of adaptive reuse. This thesis will explore an alternative strategy to a conventional adaptive reuse practices for a Modern industrial structure that not only complements but challenges and reveals the history through the tectonic character and the original intent of the design by preserving the spirit of place that is more than often lost in the process of adaptation by considering the meaning of place conveyed through its architectural expression. The adaptive reuse strategy is to be formulated and tested through design process for an adaptive reuse of a selected Modern industrial site.

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A Study on Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions According to Manufacture of Recycled Rebar Using Wasted Steel from Building Demolition

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.357-360.869 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 357-360 ◽

pp. 869-875

Author(s):

Gi Wook Cha ◽

Won Hwa Hong ◽

Sung Woo Shin

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Iron Ore ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Raw Material ◽

Input Output ◽

Output Analysis ◽

Input Output Analysis ◽

Ghg Reduction ◽

The Comparative Study ◽

Building Demolition

In recent year, Korea relies on imports for most of the iron ore, the main raw material of rebar, resulting in CO2 pollution with lots of energy consumption. Hereupon, this study carried out the research on the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the recycled rebar using the wasted steel from building demolition. For that, this study worked out the energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the process of generation, transportation and production of wasted steel and, on the basis of which, it conducted the comparative study with virgin materials. The major research results are as follows: First, the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the recycled rebar were found to be highest in the process of its production at 89.2% and 85%, respectively. In addition, in the comparison between recycled rebar and virgin material, the former was found to be most advantageous in energy consumption. On the contrary, as for CO2 emissions, the recycled rebar showed a 88.3% reduction possibility of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions comparing to statistics of input-output analysis based on competition inducement coefficient, but it was found to be more disadvantageous from the perspective of GHG reduction than the statistics of input-output analysis based on non-competition inducement coefficient.

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Over 10 years of Bulgarian membership in EU: evaluation of bulgarian experience and conclusions about Ukraine

University Economic Bulletin ◽

10.31470/2306-546x-2020-45-146-151 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 146-151

Author(s):

Hristo Katrandjiev ◽

Vasil Kaniskov

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Cultural Values ◽

Public Attitudes ◽

Raw Material ◽

Educational Systems ◽

Material Base ◽

Double Standards ◽

Agricultural Produce ◽

Demographic Attributes ◽

The Eu

Relevance of research topic. More than 10 years after Bulgaria's accession to the EU, there has been considerable “euroscepticism” among Bulgarian citizens. The study of attitudes towards Bulgarian membership in EU as well as the reasons determining these attitudes could be useful not only for Bulgaria but also for countries that are going to join the EU, including Ukraine. Setting the task, the purpose of the study: to clarify the public attitudes (in Bulgaria) towards the Bulgarian membership in European Union and to outline useful guidelines and conclusions that could help Ukrainian representatives in the process of negotiating (for joining EU). Method or methodology for conducting research. Stratified quota sample based on major socio-demographic attributes, face-to-face standardized interview in respondents’ homes. Results of work. The report analyzes the advantages as well as the challenges that Bulgarian people face more than 10 years later after joining European Union (EU). The analysis is based on the attitudes of Bulgarian citizens. Data is gathered by representative samples on the territory of Bulgaria. The authors try to make a logical parallel between Bulgaria and Ukraine and to formulate conclusions and practical guidelines that could help Ukraine to take better decisions in the process of negotiations for joining EU. Conclusions according to the article. Obviously, ten years is not enough time for the Bulgaria's full integration into the EU. However, there is a very high degree of unanimity that EU-future is the most optimistic scenario for Bulgaria. The following lines outline some important reasons for possible "euroscepticism" concerning Ukraine's future EU membership: nationalist movements and parties, fundamental differences of cultural values, the different nature of academic and educational systems, the unwillingness or inability to break the language barrier, non-adaptability of Ukraine's production technologies with those of developed European countries, the striking discrepancy between types of agricultural produce, different types/technology of agricultural production, predatory use of the country's raw material base, ecological degradation, double standards of products.

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Energy Scenario Analysis for the Nordic Transport Sector: A Critical Review

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12122232 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (12) ◽

pp. 2232 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Raffaele Salvucci ◽

Stefan Petrović ◽

Kenneth Karlsson ◽

Markus Wråke ◽

Tanu Priya Uteng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Scenario Analysis ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Energy System ◽

Nordic Countries ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Special Focus ◽

Energy Technology ◽

Oil Transport ◽

Methodological Choices ◽

Energy Scenario

Experiencing the highest growth in emissions since 1990 and relying mainly on oil, transport is considered the most complicated sector to decarbonize. Lately, the Nordic countries have shown remarkable success in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially in the power and heat sector. However, when it comes to transportation, the greatest source of Nordic GHG emissions, stronger measures are needed. Relying on a rich and diversified portfolio of renewable sources and expertise, the Nordic countries could benefit from a common mitigation strategy by encompassing a larger variety of solutions and potential synergies. This article reviews studies addressing integrated energy and transport scenario analysis for the Nordic region as a whole. The studies targeted are those applying energy system models, given their extensive adoption in supporting scenario analysis. Most notable of these studies is the “Nordic Energy Technology Perspectives 2016” to which a special focus is dedicated. The article reviews the methodological choices and the research content of the selected literature. Challenges/limitations are identified in light of recent transport research, and categorized as: “transport behavior”, “breakthrough technologies”, “domestic energy resources” and “geographical aggregation and system boundaries”. Lastly, a list of suggestions to tackle the identified gaps is provided based on the existing literature.

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Environmental Performance Measures to Assess Building Refurbishment from a Life Cycle Perspective

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12020299 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 299 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Helena Nydahl ◽

Staffan Andersson ◽

Anders Åstrand ◽

Thomas Olofsson

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Performance ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Assessment Method ◽

The European Union ◽

Building Stock ◽

Life Cycle Perspective ◽

Building Refurbishment ◽

Operational Energy

Energy efficiency investments in existing buildings are an effective way of reducing the environmental impact of the building stock. Even though policies in the European Union and elsewhere promote a unilateral focus on operational energy reduction, scientific studies highlight the importance of applying a life cycle perspective to energy refurbishment. However, life cycle assessment is often perceived as being complicated and the results difficult to interpret by the construction sector. There is also a lack of guidelines regarding the sustainable ratio between the embodied and accumulated operational impact. The scope of this study is to introduce a life cycle assessment method for building refurbishment that utilizes familiar economic performance tools, namely return on investment and annual yield. The aim is to use the introduced method to analyze a case building with a sustainability profile. The building was refurbished in order to reduce its operational energy use. The introduced method is compatible with a theory of minimum sustainable environmental performance that may be developed through backcasting from defined energy and GHG emissions objectives. The proposed approach will hopefully allow development of sustainable refurbishment objectives that can support the choice of refurbishment investments.

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The Product Carbon Footprint of EU beet sugar (Part I)

Sugar Industry ◽

10.36961/si12784 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 169-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Ingo Klenk ◽

Birgit Landquist ◽

Oscar Ruiz de Imana

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Production Systems ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Cane Sugar ◽

Average Case ◽

Methodological Choices ◽

Land Use Efficiency ◽

Beet Sugar ◽

The Eu

The calculations made to obtain the PCF of EU white sugar from sugar beet have revealed that the results are extremely sensitive to methodological choices and this article provides some recommendations in that regard. A comparison of EU beet sugar with two examples of raw cane sugar imported and refined in the EU, showed that the PCF range for EU refined cane sugar is on average similar, if not higher (642–760 kg CO2eq/t sugar) than the total methodological PCF range for the EU beet sugar average case (242–771 kg CO2eq/t sugar). A review of the published literature revealed, on the one hand, that land use change emissions for cane sugar can be very significant but are rarely taken into account, and on the other hand, that overseas transport and refining adds a significant amount of emissions to the PCF of raw cane sugar imported into the EU. An overall land use efficiency comparison between cane and beet production systems also concluded that significantly more land (51%) is required by cane systems to produce an equivalent set of products (sugar and co-products) with an equivalent amount of GHG emissions. Finally, the limitations of PCFs as a tool to evaluate the overall environmental sustainability of EU beet sugar were also analysed

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Wytyczne do modelowania emisji GHG w cyklu życia komponentów paliw z pirolizy biomasy

Nafta-Gaz ◽

10.18668/ng.2021.08.07 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 77 (8) ◽

pp. 561-567

Author(s):

Delfina Rogowska ◽

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Literature Review ◽

New Technologies ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Raw Material ◽

Biofuel Production ◽

Engine Fuel ◽

The European Union ◽

Biomass Pyrolysis ◽

Ghg Emission

The goals of the European Union set out in Directive 2018/2001 for 2030, including in particular the transport target of 3.5% share of the energy produced from feedstocks listed in Annex IX to the directive, indicate the need to search for new technologies for processing these feedstocks. The latter include waste and residual materials, including those from agriculture and forestry, cellulosic and lignocellulosic materials. These are feedstocks that are difficult or impossible to process using currently operating technologies. For this reason, it is necessary to implement new technologies allowing the use of feedstocks listed in Annex IX. These technologies should allow the production of high-quality engine fuel components and at the same time meet the sustainability criteria defined in Directive 2018/2001. The conducted literature review indicated that biomass pyrolysis combined with the hydrograding process may be such a technology. The article also provides a short literature review concerning the determination of GHG emission intensity for products from solid biomass pyrolysis. The review showed that this is a promising process, however, depending on the raw materials and energy carriers used, meeting the GHG emission reduction criterion may be difficult, especially if biomass from crops is used as the raw material. This article provides guidelines for the development of a model for calculating GHG emissions in the life cycle of a biocomponent from biomass pyrolysis. The entire life cycle of the biocomponent has been divided into sub-processes. Each of them has been briefly characterized. For each of them, the system boundaries, functional unit, input and output streams are defined. The sources of GHG emissions and the product to which these emissions can be allocated were also indicated. The stages identified in this biofuel production pathway have been assigned to the GHG emission components given in the formula in Directive 2018/2001.

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Decision making criteria for adaptive reuse strategy in UNESCO world heritage city

Journal of Facilities Management ◽

10.1108/jfm-06-2021-0068 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Noorzalifah Mohamed ◽

Kartina Alauddin

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Adaptive Reuse ◽

World Heritage ◽

Structural Condition ◽

The Body ◽

Existing Buildings ◽

Unesco World Heritage ◽

Content Type ◽

Existing Building ◽

Decision Making Criteria

Purpose Within the next 20–30 years, adaptive reuse will have the greatest potential to reduce the built environment's environmental impact. Despite this, stakeholders still do not have sufficient points of reference in justifying and evaluating their adaptation practice decisions. The decision to reuse a building involves a complex set of considerations, including economic, social, environmental, legislative and architectural issues. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the unique decision-making criteria among stakeholders when considering adaptive reuse of an existing building asset in Malaysian heritage cities. Design/Methodology/Approach Thirty (30) unique criteria of decision-making were identified through a detailed literature review. The quantitative method of a self-completion questionnaire survey was conducted among stakeholders, including architects, valuers, planners, government department, developers and building owners. There were asked about their opinion and view on the criteria that could have influenced the decision-making in considering the adaptive reuse of the existing buildings in two heritage cities in the states of Penang and Malacca, Malaysia. Thus, it is the aim of this paper to evaluate and reveal the key criteria pertaining to this. Findings The analysis shows that there are seven key criteria that influence the decision-making of adaptive reuse of existing building: building value; building suitability; structural condition; official plan and zoning; building code; client requirement and heritage designated. In this regard, while “building value” factors were the key determinants in deciding whether to reuse or demolish, the asset’s suitability and structural condition, as well as rules, were also taken into account. Additionally, the environmental, economic and social tenets of sustainability were also identified as important, but were given less weight in matters concerning reuse. And due to the fact that many of the existing buildings are rapidly becoming obsolete, they are now increasingly being prioritized during the adaptive reuse decision-making process to ensure long-term outcomes. Research Limitations/Implications The research is limited owing to the difficulty in obtaining accurate information concerning the number of decision agents who have been involved in the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. Thus, the respondents in this research were randomly selected. Due to this limitation, the result does not encompass the whole Malaysia, only the stakeholders in Penang and Malacca have been selected the respondents in this study as these states are listed in the UNESCO World Heritage. Social Implications When deciding whether to reuse or demolish an existing building, the proposed criteria will outline the crucial areas that must be examined by owners, developers and key project stakeholders. It can also be used to assess the financial, physical and social aspects of a cultural project. Originality/Value This paper adds to the body of knowledge concerning decision-making criteria for adaptive reuse strategies in achieving heritage city sustainability.

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Reuse into housing: Italian and Dutch regulatory effects

Property Management ◽

10.1108/pm-10-2015-0054 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 165-180 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Rosamaria Olivadese ◽

Hilde Remøy ◽

Carlo Berizzi ◽

Fred Hobma

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Adaptive Reuse ◽

Regulatory System ◽

Existing Buildings ◽

Content Type ◽

Regulatory Systems ◽

Speed Up ◽

Regulatory Effects ◽

The University

Purpose The need to speed up and simplify the practice of transformation and the topic of reuse is crucial in Italy. The purpose of this paper is to compare successful cases of reuse into housing in Italy and the Netherlands, in order to suggest improvements to the Italian situation. Design/methodology/approach Previous research at the University of Pavia showed the need to change living standards for new residential buildings. This research focusses on existing buildings and gives a comparative analysis of the Italian and Dutch legislation for residential buildings. Interviews with professionals have been conducted in Italy and the Netherlands to better understand the differences and problems related to housing regulations. Good examples of reuse into housing have been studied to define common guidelines for intervention. Findings The findings describe the building regulations in Italy and the Netherlands concerning adaptive reuse, and reveals differences between the two countries. Furthermore, the possibilities and barriers for the reuse of existing buildings are highlighted. Practical implications Lessons are drawn from both contexts, and finally suggestions for improvement of the regulatory system are made for Italy and the Netherlands. Originality/value This paper aims at revealing the opportunities and barriers of reuse in Italy and the Netherlands. So far, studies were performed to reveal the feasibility of adaptive reuse, though none of these focussed specifically on legal issues. No sufficient studies are performed so far on reuse into housing in Italy, and the comparison of the regulatory systems of the two countries is novel.

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