Circular Construction Process: Method for Developing a Selective, Low CO2eq Disassembly and Demolition Plan

With the increasing focus on the construction sector (e.g., following the European Green Deal initiative) with the aim to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels), as well as achieve full decarbonisation by 2050, the built environment remains a strategic domain for the R&I (Research and Innovation) agenda. Indeed, the building and construction sector is the main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (39% of global emissions as of 2018), highlighting the need to start a process of decarbonisation of this sector. The overall reduction in the environmental impact of building materials is achieved by establishing sustainable continuity between the end-of-life phase of the building and the production phase of individual building components. In particular, with reference to the end-of-life phase of the building (BS EN 15978: 2011), the Minimum Environmental Criteria foresee the preparation of a plan for the disassembly and selective demolition of the building, which allows the reuse or recycling of materials, building components and prefabricated elements used. According to the guidelines of a low-carbon construction design, which takes into account a circular economy, the following thesis deals with a methodological proposal to study “dry” construction systems (wood and steel). In particular, the study intends to reach the development of such an elaboration by carrying out an assessment of the environmental impact of a process of selective disassembly and demolition of steel building systems. The model is developed on the basis of a reading of the level of sustainability of emblematic case studies, appropriately identified, i.e., ‘quality’ architectures, built with ‘dry’ (steel) building systems.

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Environmental Impact Assessment of crystalline solar photovoltaic panels’ End-of-Life phase: Open and Closed-Loop Material Flow scenarios

Sustainable Production and Consumption ◽

10.1016/j.spc.2020.05.008 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 23 ◽

pp. 157-173

Author(s):

Rubén Contreras Lisperguer ◽

Emilio Muñoz Cerón ◽

Juan de la Casa Higueras ◽

Ricardo Díaz Martín

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

Impact Assessment ◽

End Of Life ◽

Environmental Impact Assessment ◽

Material Flow ◽

Closed Loop ◽

Solar Photovoltaic ◽

Photovoltaic Panels ◽

Life Phase

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Modeling the fate and end-of-life phase of engineered nanomaterials in the Japanese construction sector

Waste Management ◽

10.1016/j.wasman.2017.11.037 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 72 ◽

pp. 389-398 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Shinya Suzuki ◽

Florian Part ◽

Yasushi Matsufuji ◽

Marion Huber-Humer

Keyword(s):

End Of Life ◽

Engineered Nanomaterials ◽

Construction Sector ◽

Life Phase

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Environmental Impacts and Benefits of the End-of-Life of Building Materials: Database to Support Decision Making and Contribute to Circularity

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132212659 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (22) ◽

pp. 12659

Author(s):

Ana Antunes ◽

Ricardo Martins ◽

José Dinis Silvestre ◽

Ricardo do Carmo ◽

Hugo Costa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Waste Management ◽

End Of Life ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Building Materials ◽

National Level ◽

Construction And Demolition Waste ◽

Demolition Waste ◽

Life Phase ◽

The Impact

This paper outlines a methodology for structuring a generic database of environmental impacts on the end-of-life phase of buildings, which can be used at the national level, in accordance with European standards. A number of different options are also considered for managing construction and demolition waste (CDW), as well as for promoting the circularity of materials in construction. The database structure has been developed for use by the main stakeholders who decide the disposal scenario for the main CDW flows, assess waste management plans, and identify the corresponding environmental aspects. The impact categories considered in this paper are global warming potential (GWP) and the abiotic depletion potential of fossil fuels (ADP (f.f.)). This lifecycle assessment (LCA) database further facilitates the identification of important information, such as possible treatments for CDW, or suppliers of recycled materials for use in new construction. Two demolition case studies were used to confirm the benefits of the proposed database. Two demolition scenarios are assessed—traditional and selective—in order to demonstrate the advantage of selective demolition in waste management. The results obtained from the environmental assessment of CDW flows demonstrate that the proposed database can be an important and useful tool for decision making about the end-of-life of construction materials, as it is designed to maximize their reuse and recycling. An innovative online platform can be created based on this database, contributing to the reduction of the environmental impacts associated with the end-of-life phase of buildings.

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Construction sector views on low carbon building materials

Building Research & Information ◽

10.1080/09613218.2016.1086872 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 423-444 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Jannik Giesekam ◽

John R. Barrett ◽

Peter Taylor

Keyword(s):

Building Materials ◽

Construction Sector ◽

Low Carbon

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A Study on CO2 Emissions in End-of-Life Phase of Residential Buildings in Korea: Demolition, Transportation and Disposal of Building Materials

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.730.457 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 730 ◽

pp. 457-462

Author(s):

Gi Wook Cha ◽

Won Hwa Hong ◽

Jin Ho Kim

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

End Of Life ◽

Building Materials ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Building Industry ◽

Effective Strategy ◽

Demolition Waste ◽

Resource Recycling ◽

Life Phase ◽

Reduce Energy Consumption

Architecture and building industry have been made diversified efforts to create a construction environment that promotes resource recycling. Many studies have been done to better understand and reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions throughout a building’s lifecycle. However, to promote sustainable development and a construction environment that facilitates resource recycling, more understanding and research is needed on energy consumption and CO2 emissions during the stage of dismantling a building. Noting that, this research investigates CO2 emissions in a building’s End-Of-Life (EOL) phase that includes dismantling of a building, transport and disposal of the waste generated in the course of dismantling residential buildings in Korea. According to the results of this study, CO2 emissions in a building’s EOL phase was 3,561kg CO2/100m2 for apartments, 3,184 kgCO2/100m2 for brick houses and 1,137 kg CO2/100m2 for wooden houses. The results showed that transport and disposal process of demolition waste accounts for 90% of all CO2 emissions in a building’s EOL phase. From this finding, it is necessary to have a proper, effective strategy for transport and disposal of demolition waste from dismantled buildings’ in order to reduce CO2 emissions during a building’s EOL phase.

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Specification for vitreous enamelled steel building components

10.3403/30308786 ◽

1964 ◽

Keyword(s):

Steel Building ◽

Building Components

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Thermal Characterization of Recycled Materials for Building Insulation

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14123564 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (12) ◽

pp. 3564

Author(s):

Arnas Majumder ◽

Laura Canale ◽

Costantino Carlo Mastino ◽

Antonio Pacitto ◽

Andrea Frattolillo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Building Materials ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Natural Fibers ◽

Thermal Characterization ◽

Recycled Materials ◽

Building Insulation ◽

Operational Phase

The building sector is known to have a significant environmental impact, considering that it is the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions of around 36% and is also responsible for about 40% of global energy consumption. Of this, about 50% takes place during the building operational phase, while around 10–20% is consumed in materials manufacturing, transport and building construction, maintenance, and demolition. Increasing the necessity of reducing the environmental impact of buildings has led to enhancing not only the thermal performances of building materials, but also the environmental sustainability of their production chains and waste prevention. As a consequence, novel thermo-insulating building materials or products have been developed by using both locally produced natural and waste/recycled materials that are able to provide good thermal performances while also having a lower environmental impact. In this context, the aim of this work is to provide a detailed analysis for the thermal characterization of recycled materials for building insulation. To this end, the thermal behavior of different materials representing industrial residual or wastes collected or recycled using Sardinian zero-km locally available raw materials was investigated, namely: (1) plasters with recycled materials; (2) plasters with natural fibers; and (3) building insulation materials with natural fibers. Results indicate that the investigated materials were able to improve not only the energy performances but also the environmental comfort in both new and in existing buildings. In particular, plasters and mortars with recycled materials and with natural fibers showed, respectively, values of thermal conductivity (at 20 °C) lower than 0.475 and 0.272 W/(m⋅K), while that of building materials with natural fibers was always lower than 0.162 W/(m⋅K) with lower values for compounds with recycled materials (0.107 W/(m⋅K)). Further developments are underway to analyze the mechanical properties of these materials.

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A METHODOLOGY TO SUPPORT COMPANIES IN THE FIRST STEPS TOWARDS DE-MANUFACTURING

Proceedings of the Design Society ◽

10.1017/pds.2021.14 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 131-140

Author(s):

Federica Cappelletti ◽

Marta Rossi ◽

Michele Germani ◽

Mohammad Shadman Hanif

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

End Of Life ◽

Design Stage ◽

Life Strategies ◽

Disassembly Sequence ◽

The Status ◽

The Cost ◽

Technical Solutions ◽

First Time ◽

Complex Activities

AbstractDe-manufacturing and re-manufacturing are fundamental technical solutions to efficiently recover value from post-use products. Disassembly in one of the most complex activities in de-manufacturing because i) the more manual it is the higher is its cost, ii) disassembly times are variable due to uncertainty of conditions of products reaching their EoL, and iii) because it is necessary to know which components to disassemble to balance the cost of disassembly. The paper proposes a methodology that finds ways of applications: it can be applied at the design stage to detect space for product design improvements, and it also represents a baseline from organizations approaching de-manufacturing for the first time. The methodology consists of four main steps, in which firstly targets components are identified, according to their environmental impact; secondly their disassembly sequence is qualitatively evaluated, and successively it is quantitatively determined via disassembly times, predicting also the status of the component at their End of Life. The aim of the methodology is reached at the fourth phase when alternative, eco-friendlier End of Life strategies are proposed, verified, and chosen.

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Circular economy in the construction sector: advancing environmental performance through systemic and holistic thinking

Environment Systems & Decisions ◽

10.1007/s10669-021-09803-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Magnus Sparrevik ◽

Luitzen de Boer ◽

Ottar Michelsen ◽

Christofer Skaar ◽

Haley Knudson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Building Materials ◽

Construction Sector ◽

Recursive Structure ◽

Effective Implementation ◽

Environmental Effectiveness ◽

Standards And Regulations ◽

Management Schemes ◽

Different Levels

AbstractThe construction sector is progressively becoming more circular by reducing waste, re-using building materials and adopting regenerative solutions for energy production and biodiversity protection. The implications of circularity on construction activities are complex and require the careful evaluation of impacts to select the appropriate path forward. Evaluations of circular solutions and their environmental effectiveness are often performed based on various types of life cycle-based impact assessments. This paper uses systemic thinking to map and evaluate different impact assessment methodologies and their implications for a shift to more circular solutions. The following systemic levels are used to group the methodologies: product (material life cycle declarations and building assessments), organisation (certification and management schemes) and system (policies, standards and regulations). The results confirm that circular economy is integrated at all levels. However, development and structure are not coordinated or governed unidirectionally, but rather occur simultaneously at different levels. This recursive structure is positive if the methods are applied in the correct context, thus providing both autonomy and cohesion in decision making. Methods at lower systemic levels may then improve production processes and stimulate the market to create circular and innovative building solutions, whereas methods at higher systemic levels can be used, for example, by real estate builders, trade organisations and governments to create incentives for circular development and innovation in a broader perspective. Use of the performance methods correctly within an actor network is therefore crucial for successful and effective implementation of circular economy in the construction sector.

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