bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
New Portfolio-Rating-System based on LEVEL(S)
Authors: Bernegger H J
Published: September 2019

In Switzerland, there are currently no instruments for the holistic and easily applicable assessment of the sustainability of existing buildings, which can also be applied to larger real estate portfolios and which are structurally based on Swiss or European sustainability standards. The instrument, developed as part of a ZHAW R&D project for the City of Zurich, Public Real Estate Management, is based on the already existing LEVEL(S) criteria structure. As distinguished from LEVEL(S), it can be applied to all types of buildings, including mixed buildings, and also scalable to larger portfolios of cities, banks, insurances or real estate investment funds.

LEVEL(S) is a voluntary reporting framework to improve the sustainability of buildings. Using existing standards, LEVEL(S) provides a common EU approach to the assessment of environmental performance in the built environment. In the current Version LEVEL(S) is suitable for new office and residential buildings and existing buildings at the time of a major refurbishment.

The paper shows, how the rating structures of Agenda2030/SDG’s/GAPFRAME, ESCI City Rating System, DGNB and LEVEL(S) can be combined into a holistic evaluation system. If required, the developed portfolio analysis instrument can be coupled - with a more detailed building analysis as an intermediate step - directly with a DGNB renovation certification. It will show how sustaining property owners can be supported in this holistic way. Finally, the first findings from the practical application are explained. It will be shown how it is possible to support sustainably acting portfolio holders in this holistic way.
Sustainability assessment of a Flemish office building with Level(s): a Level 1 assessment
Authors: Ramon D , Pironnet C , Allacker K
Published: September 2019

Recently, Level(s) has been developed by the European Commission as a common EU framework to assess sustainability of buildings with the intention to provide a consistent and comparable framework across national boundaries. It aims at providing a general language for sustainability for buildings and to promote life cycle thinking. This paper describes the application and results of a Level 1 assessment for the design stage of a Flemish office building. Level 1 is a common performance assessment which aims to be used amongst others by building professionals. Common standards and simplified methods are used for the indicators. The paper focusses on the experiences of testing the method by evaluating the user-friendliness of the assessment method for architects considering the information and calculations needed. The added value of applying the methodology in the design stage is furthermore discussed. Based on the test phase, further improvement is recommended by aligning current national tools for data gathering and by providing default values. A Level 1 assessment allows to gain insights in various performances of a building but does not aim to evaluate the “sustainability” level. A level 2 assessment is probably more useful for practitioners to make well-founded choices between different design options.
BIM based iterative simulation - efficient building design: a case study
Authors: Tallberg M , Bohne R
Published: September 2019

The aim of this case study was to evaluate the energy performance of utilizing different external materials reaching sustainable targets. Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of energy consumption and energy performance of buildings is a key element to achieving the European Unions goals. The EU has pledged to cut its consumption by 20 percent by 2020.

The main objective of this research was to explore the suitability of BIM for sustainabil-ity analysis at the conceptual design process. The procedure included analysis and discussion of the results for the lowest energy performance of materials. It was shown that changing the building envelope had a signi cant e ect on the annual energy performance of the case building. The limitations of the study was the limitations in the software. For further research, the paper nds it expedient to perform a even more detailed simuation analysis on the building design with other energy supply systems.

The value of the paper is to highlight the utilization of BIM to evaluate the material solutions to reach sustainable construction in the future, focusing on the need for lowering the energy consumption of tomorrows buildings.
Modelling options for module C and D: Experiences from 50 EPD for wood-based products in Norway
Authors: Tellnes L G F , Rønning A R
Published: September 2019

Introducing the EN 15804 standard as a core PCR for building products included several specifications for LCA end-of-life and benefits beyond the life cycle. There are however several issues that the LCA practitioner need to interpret during the modelling and generic data needs to be adjusted for being representative and in accordance to EN 15804.The modelling of module C and D has been developed in three different stages during making 50 EPDs over several years. First the model was mainly based on generic data from ELCD database. The second was a statistics-based mix of different treatment options, where the substation of other energy sources in module D was a representative mix of district heating mix, electricity, coal in cement production, wood chips in wood industry and ELCD for exported waste. The third represented a 100 % scenario for energy recovery in municipal waste incineration and substituting statistical mix of electricity and district heating. The objective of the study is to present the experiences from developing and implementing the module C and D in the 50 EPD that where verified at EPD-Norway and discuss in relation to requirements in standards and usability in a building context.
A typology of digital building technologies: Implications for policy and industry
Authors: Meuer J , Toetzke M , Nakhle C , Windeck S
Published: September 2019

Digitalization and digital technologies are buzzwords in today’s building industry. Because of their promising opportunities to improve (among others) the sustainability footprint of the built environment, they have emerged as an important topic for policymakers, managers, and researchers. Yet, the debate is dominated by references to Building Information Modelling (BIM) and to the success of digital businesses in other industries; it thereby fails to consider other promising digital building technologies and ignores that—in the building industry—many digital technologies require alignment with buildings’ physical components. For these reasons, it is unclear how the implications of digital transformation of the building industry for policy and business. In this paper, we develop a typology of digital building technologies, and categorize and assess 29 important building technologies. The substantive differences among different types of building technologies provide valuable insights into how digital building technologies affect the functioning, structure, and competition in the building industry and where digital building technologies offer opportunities to remedy the industry’s sustainability footprint. Based on our findings, we offer recommendations to policy makers, companies, and researchers interested in digital building technologies.
Consequential LCA of demountable and reusable internal wall assemblies: a case study in a Belgian context
Authors: Buyle M , Galle W , Debacker W , Audenaert A
Published: September 2019

The transition from a linear to a circular economy is essential to reduce the environmental burden of our society. A key issue is to prevent a shift of the environmental burdens and take the consequences of a decision into account, for example based on a consequential life cycle assessment (LCA). However, limited practical guidance is available on how to implement consequential LCA in the context of the construction sector. Therefore, the aim of this study is twofold. First, to quantify the potential environmental and burdens of introducing circular design alternatives for internal wall assemblies to the Belgian market. Second, to review the methodological implications on the results of a consequential LCA with a particular focus on consistently identifying marginal suppliers and substitution routes, acknowledging the time dependence and closed-loop nature of the design alternatives.

In total seven wall assemblies are assessed over a period of 60 years, with a refurbishment every 15 year.

The results show that a low life cycle impact can be achieved for assemblies that are designed to be used again and have a higher initial impact, such as a plywood boarding connected reversibly to a demountable metal frame substructure, as well as for assemblies with no possibilities for direct reuse that have a low initial impact, such as a drywall system with a wooden substructure. Further, regarding the methodological scenarios on marginal supplier identification, the range of possible outcomes is however much larger for the demountable wall assemblies than for the conventional ones.
Scenario uncertainties assessment within whole building LCA
Authors: Guimarães G D , Saade M R M , Zara O O C , Silva V G
Published: September 2019

Uncertainties evaluation is increasingly gaining traction within life cycle assessment (LCA), due to its key role as environmental decision support tool. When applied at whole-building scale, the large variety of materials, subjective choices and long lifespans introduce parameter, scenario and model uncertainties throughout the life cycle. Since normative choices are unavoidable within whole-building LCA (wbLCA), in this article we carried out a so-called ‘scenario’ uncertainty assessment for one illustrative case study. First, three uncertainty sources were selected, to include the two drivers most frequently cited in literature (reference service life and end of life management alternatives) and material wastage, a relevant issue to factor in variable construction optimization levels in contexts like Brazil. Cumulative energy demand (CED) and CML 2001 v.2.05 methods were used for calculating deterministic values of non-renewable embodied energy and global warming potential in SimaPro 7.3 The uncertainty assessment combined scenario analysis, stochastic modelling (Monte Carlo simulation of triangular probability distributions for the uncertainty drivers investigated) and global sensitivity analysis (GSA). The GSA confirmed the dominant contribution of the operational phase - strongly influenced by components replacement rate - to of life cycle non-renewable embodied energy and global warming potential result variance, whilst construction and end of life stages showed no correlation with life cycle results. Findings from this research also highlight the strategic importance of gathering service life information adherent to the assessed context. Building components replacement rates induced by the Brazilian standard are overestimated relatively to international figures used in LCAs worldwide.
Integrating climate change in life cycle assessment of buildings: literature review
Authors: Ramon D , Allacker K
Published: September 2019

The operational energy use and related greenhouse gas emissions of buildings are typically influenced by changes during the building service life such as climate change, technological evolution and energy mix evolution. Only few LCA studies consider these temporal variations. This paper investigates how climate change is currently considered in LCA studies. Three aspects related to the influence of climate change on the life cycle impact of buildings are focused on: (1) changes in operational energy use (heating and cooling) due to changes in the climatic context of the building, (2) changes in operational energy use due to technological evolution or climate regulations and (3) changes in energy mix due to climate regulations. All three influence the energy use and related environmental impact but the extent of the effect depends on the considered region, time step and environmental indicators. It is hence recommended to choose an appropriate time period when considering climate change in LCA and consider variations within a time period via dynamic building simulations or to include a static correction. A holistic set of impact categories should be focussed on to avoid burden shifting and the most influencing parameters should be checked via a sensitivity analysis.
Visualisation of KPIs in zero emission neighbourhoods for improved stakeholder participation using Virtual Reality
Authors: Wiberg A H , Løvhaug S , Mathisen M , Tschoerner B , Resch E , Erdt M , Prasolova-Førland E
Published: September 2019

This paper addresses the role of virtual reality in addressing the specific challenge of the increasing complexity and decreasing usability when dealing with the level of detail required to model a zero emission neighbourhood (ZEN).[1] In such neighbourhoods, there is a need to handle both ‘top down’ neighbourhood level data with ‘bottom up’ building and material level data. This can quickly become overwhelming particularly when dealing with non expert users such as planners, architects, researchers and citizens who play a key part in the design process of future ZENs. Visualisation is an invaluable means to communicate complex data in an interactive way that makes it easier for diverse stakeholders to engage in decision making early and throughout the design process. The main purpose of this work has been to make ZEN key performance indicators (KPIs) more easily comprehensible to a diverse set of stakeholders who need to be involved in the early design phase. The paper investigates how existing extended reality (XR) technologies, such as virtual reality, can be integrated with an existing dynamic LCA method in order to provide visualise feedback on KPIs in early phase design of sustainable neighbourhoods. This existing method provides a dynamic link between the REVIT Bim and the ZEB Tool using a Dynamo plugin.[2] The results presented in this paper demonstrate how virtual reality can help to improve stakeholder participation in the early design phase and more easily integrate science-based knowledge on GHG emissions and other KPIs into the further development of the user-centered architectural and urban ZEN toolbox for the design and planning, operation and monitoring of ZENs. [3]
A systematic review of the international assessment systems for urban sustainability
Authors: Pedro J , Reis A , Duarte Pinheiro M , Silva C
Published: September 2019

Planning and managing the rapidly growing cities in a manner that delivers a balanced solution for their environmental, social and economic long-term development constitutes one of the grand challenges of societies. In the urban planning field, several sustainability assessment systems emerged to guide the planning process towards these goals. After two decades of existence, there is a need to further analyze the lessons learned from the application of these systems and discuss the pathways towards more sustainable societies. This paper provides a literature review of the most widely used urban sustainability assessment systems: BREEAM Communities, LEED Neighborhoods, CASBEE Urban Development, Green Star Communities, and DGNB Urban Districts. Here, we analyzed 124 publications on the topic published between 2015-2018, using the selected assessment systems as keywords. This study revealed that there is a need for context customization of global targets into local actionable measures; involvement of regulatory bodies to ensure the successful application of such systems; and, consideration of socioeconomic factors as the assessment is still very focused on the environmental impact. This study provides insights for practitioners and researchers on the existing systems to assess urban sustainability and pathways for future research.
Fostering the implementation of green solutions through a Living Lab approach – experiences from the LiLa4Green project
Authors: Tötzer T , Hagen K , Meinharter E , Millinger D , Ratheiser M , Formanek S , Gasienica-Wawrytko B , Brossmann J , Matejka V , Gepp W
Published: September 2019

For dealing with participatory aspects in urban planning, the method of Living Labs (LL) currently turns out to be a most popular and promising approach. In our project LiLa4Green we apply such a Living Lab in the City of Vienna for implementing green solutions in densely built settlement areas characterised by heterogenous ownership and building structures, few public open space and green areas and the dominance of car traffic. In the first year, the potential analysis of the status-quo situation was completed, and the Living Lab had been established. First lessons from the now successfully running LL process can be drawn. The analysis and the initiated process revealed deficits, but also clear potentials for the implementation of green measures which could significantly improve the current situation. So far, the Living Lab process made clear that the people are generally affected and therefore interested in the topic of heat stress and greening the city, but it does not seem to have top priority for them. Although many people could be addressed and involved in discussions, only a small group of people were willing to take part in the first workshop. Confronted with such challenges the strategy for the next stage was to bring the LL process closer to the people’s everyday life context and to extend the participatory methods. Innovative ICT-solutions which help to intuitively visualize and understand green solutions and their effects were tested, as well as a co-decision process for the realization of a first intervention was offered. The higher participation rate in the second green lab indicates that this is a promising approach which will be continued in the further LL process.
The Potential of Greenable Area in the Urban Building Stock
Authors: Stangl R , Minixhofer P , Hoerbinger S , Kermer L
Published: September 2019

In the context of establishing green infrastructure in cities, urban retrofit has presumably larger area potential than ground-based green. To support the large-scale advancement of urban green, the assessment of greenable potential plots in the building stock, both on horizontal and on vertical scale, provides first indispensable indications for decision-making. However, reliable and solid data to the state of the buildings is currently not available. The research study Urbane GmbA explored a new methodological approach, based on publicly available geo-data, and applied it at two study sites in high-density urban quarters in Vienna. The combination of a GIS-based analysis with digital and on-site photos allowed for the creation of a Level of Detail 2 (LOD2) 3D-model and subsequently the estimation of the green retrofit potential of roofs and facades. Comprehensive maps with the data of the 2D building footprints provide valuable information for planners, including building characteristics and greenable area potential. The approach proved to provide more comprehensive information including building characteristics fundamental to the planning and decision-making process. The achieved results are merged with an evaluation matrix generated for attributing available facade and roof greening systems. This allows for more focused decision support for the retrofit of the building stock towards more sustainable and resilient district development.
Green Resilient City - A framework to integrate the Green and Open Space Factor and climate simulations into everyday planning to support a green and climate-sensitive landscape and urban development
Authors: Reinwald F , Ring Z , Kraus F , Kainz A , Tötzer T , Damyanovic D
Published: September 2019

Continued urban growth, densification and the constantly increasing number of days with excessive heat provide challenging conditions for urban green infrastructure (UGI) and intensify the Urban Heat Island effect (UHI). Therefore, new approaches are required to improve the urban ecological function of buildings and to provide high-quality (urban) open spaces that affect the meso- and microclimate in a positive way. Based on the research project “Green Resilient City”, this paper shows how climate simulations can support landscape and urban planning and development. A proof of concept for a multiscale tool set for the evaluation, regulation, and optimization of green and climate-sensitive urban planning projects is the overall aim. The tool-set combines a Green and Open Space Factor, as an urban planning index and controlling instrument, as well as three climate simulation models on different scales in order to harmonize them: the GREENPASS® as an optimization instrument on parcel and neighborhood level, MUKLIMO_3 on neighborhood and city level and Cosmo-CLM as evaluation tools on mesoclimatic and regional level. Several advantages arise from the unprecedented combination of these four instruments: It transfers the use of climate models to the planning process, enables the testing and optimization of different UGIs with a focus on how they can influence the climatic performance of the proposed design of an urban development or retrofit project and serves as a scientific basis for urban planning decisions on a political level.
Modelling of a sanitary landfill for developing countries to improve the reliability of Life Cycle Assessment studies
Authors: Gutierrez K G , Fernandes M A O , Chernicharo C A L
Published: September 2019

In developing countries, such as Brazil, the main destination of municipal solid waste is sanitary landfills. In Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies, the entire life cycle of the product or process is considered, therefore it is necessary to take into account the destination of the waste and by-products of the process in question. For a reliable and representative LCA study, these destinations have to be illustrative of the place where the study is conducted in. Regarding the treatment and disposal of organic solid waste, the main LCA databases, such as Ecoinvent 3.0, consider sanitary landfills modelled in European standards, which include processes that are not common in developing countries. In light of this reality, the aim of this study was to model a sanitary landfill that corresponds to the case of the said countries and provide a methodology to improve the significance of environmental studies, which can also be used with primary data. The model used literature data based on Brazilian reality, considering the operation of the landfill (transport and emissions and diesel usage in the spreading of the waste); biogas generation and treatment; leachate generation and treatment using stabilization lagoons and its emissions. When compared to landfill based on European reality, differences up to 80% can be observed in some potential environmental impacts.
Bike Model District “Alte Neustadt” in Bremen
Authors: Dietz J , Hoppe M , Kollmann S , Mansfeld U
Published: September 2019

How to transform existing urban structures into zero emission cities by 2050 - especially if money is rare? The School of Architecture Bremen (SoAB) at the City’s University of Applied Science have initiated an innovative and collaborative project for the further development of the university’s neighbourhood, the “Alte Neustadt”. SoAB participated in the national climate protection by bicycle traffic competition and was granted funding for the transformation of the district into Germany’s first bicycle zone. In cooperation with the city district, NGO’s, cultural institutions, and other neighbourhood organisations, a network of bicycle streets in connection with new bicycle highways will be installed. By 2020 comprehensive new bicycle parking areas will be finished, as well as new cyclist and pedestrian friendly crossings over the main roads. The campus’ main street will be transformed into an “Open Campus” for the university and the neighbourhood. A multifunctional “Bike Repair Café” with cargo bike sharing and bike rental facilities will enhance the district’s transformation even further, thus creating a space to reflect environmental problems to be solved. The bike model district “Alte Neustadt” is just a small step in the right direction, but a huge improvement of the district’s quality of life.
Public procurement for carbon reduction in infrastructure projects – an international overview
Authors: Kadefors A , Lingegård S , Alkan-Olsson J , Uppenberg S , Balian D
Published: September 2019

Carbon emissions emanating from infrastructure construction projects are substantial and stem primarily from production of construction materials and use of energy for construction transport and site activities. In recent years, public infrastructure clients world-wide have begun to include carbon reduction goals in their procurement requirements. This is however a new and complex field where practices vary and are still developing. In this paper, we compare models for carbon reduction requirements in infrastructure construction projects based on case studies of large projects in Australia, USA, the Netherlands, Sweden and UK. We found that open, functional carbon reduction requirements were considered innovative but entailed costs for calculating baselines and risks for speculation. Also, high time pressure in projects limits contractors’ opportunities to explore reduction opportunities. Thus, specific, prescriptive requirements may play an important role in client-led, long-term innovation processes. Organizational competence and resources on the buyer side are essential, and policies for carbon reduction should aim to increase client capacity. Further, procurement practices are developed in mutual interaction between clients and suppliers over longer periods of time, which limits possibilities to transfer procurement policies and requirements between contexts.
Towards a sustainable district: a streamlined Life cycle assessment applied to an Italian urban district
Authors: Palumbo E , Traverso M , Antonini E , Boeri A
Published: September 2019

The literature shows a lack of environmental indicators able to support the transition from a sustainable to a smart city framework, since the priority area “built environment” is indeed more comprehensively addressed by urban sustainability assessment systems (13%), than by smart city frameworks (4%) [12].

As “smaller cities inside a larger agglomerate” [19], urban districts play a key role in defining effective and innovative paths toward a smarter city, but defining a sustainable urban district is not straightforward, and even less is capturing the induced impacts due to interactions between individual buildings and their surround urban setting [23]. The adoption of a quantitative method for evaluation, such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), emerges as an essential step for this purpose [24].

This article explores the application of a streamlined LCA on the urban district main issues (buildings, energy, water and waste), referring to an urban retrofitting intervention of Bolognina neighbourhood.

A set of mitigation strategies developed by an interdisciplinary research group (joining researcher team from the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna and Institute of Sustainability in Civil Engineering of the RWTH Aachen University) provides the reference framework for the application deepened within the article. This work is a first application of LCA to a case study but it not includes a comprehensive sustainability framework yet, further activities are planned to finalize the analysis, e.g. taking account of social dimension by applying Social Life Cycle Assessment.
BIM for public authorities: Basic research for the standardized implementation of BIM in the building permit process
Authors: Plazza D , Röck M , Malacarne G , Passer A , Marcher C , Matt D T
Published: September 2019

The building permit is an indispensable connection between the approval authority and the executive client within the construction process. Moreover, sustainability criteria do not have sufficient regard in the building permit process in the area of research. To lay the foundation for a state-of-the-art digitalization of the building permit process, the study identifies the information requirements relevant to implement the BIM methodology taking into consideration the available sustainability aspects relevant to the process. A detailed evaluation of the building permit process and the analysis of projects that have gained building permission in the last five years in the area of study of South Tyrol (Italy) gives us a better understanding of the organizational structure and responsibilities in the process. The authors use the data of in-depth process analysis to assess a defined catalogue of basic requirements for BIM methodology in the building permit process. As a result, the analysed BIM-integrated approach enables an early-stage identification of approval compliance, which can be evaluated in the building permit process. A good understanding of the current process must be considered a key factor of a successful introduction of BIM for the building permit procedure.
Sustainability Assessment in Architectural Competitions in Switzerland
Authors: Mobiglia M , Cellina F , Castri R
Published: September 2019

Architectural and urban planning decisions, that have a strong impact on all areas of sustainability, are often set during preliminary phases of project development. This work focuses on the architectural competition, that is traditionally an instrument for enhancing quality in architecture and urban planning in the preliminary phase. However, in Switzerland, only occasionally assessment criteria adopted in such competitions include principles of sustainable development (SD), as there are no specific references to SD in the specific national SIA 142 “Regulation of architecture competitions”.

In the Swiss Canton of Ticino, in some architectural competitions the evaluation criteria of sustainable development have been already clearly enumerated in the tender documents. Those criteria were selected according to existing tools (Sustainable neighbourhood by SMEO, SNBS, SIA 112/1) widely used in Switzerland. In addition to the usual graphic documents each project team had to structure a sustainability report. The presented projects have been then assessed by an interdisciplinary team, after that the resultsin several representations (global index, dimension index, category index, bar graph diagram and spider web diagram) and compared them to show the strengths and weaknesses from an integrated point of view.

A change in the competition culture is needed because the sensitivity for the topic depends strongly on subjectives purposes, namely primarly on the composition of the jury.
Early Design Stage Building LCA using the LCAbyg tool: Comparing Cases for Early Stage and Detailed LCA Approaches
Authors: Kjær Zimmermann R , Kanafani K , Nygaard Rasmussen F , Birgisdóttir H
Published: September 2019

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used and accepted as a method to assess environmental impacts and resource use of buildings. In practice, LCA is typically used in stages where the design of the building is already finalized. However, LCA-calculations from early design stages can be used actively in design and optimization of the building. One of the obstacles to early stage LCA is that extensive data input on precise material types and amounts is needed, which is limited in early design stages. The simplifications needed for a designer in an early design LCA is addressed in a research project, where an extensive library of predefined building components and installations were developed and integrated into the existing Danish LCAbyg tool. The library assists the user in establishing a full building inventory by simple inputs of geometry of the building and a selection from the library of building element layers. However, the simplified approach to LCA of a building at early design stages inevitably affects results compared with results of a calculation made at later design stages where more, specific data is available. This paper presents an evaluation of building cases, modelled with the same background database and life cycle stages, using the simplified early design LCA approach and a detailed LCA approach. The evaluation includes testing of how well the predefined components in the early design approach fit with the case buildings and comparisons of the total material input and precision of the final LCA results.
Monitoring results of innovative energy-efficient buildings in Austria
Authors: Beermann M , Sauper E
Published: September 2019

The objective of this paper is to present real-world energy monitoring and sustainability assessment results of innovative energy-efficient service buildings in Austria. In the investigated buildings, the energy flows for the supply and distribution of heating, hot water and cooling energy, the object-related electricity consumption and, if available, energy generation with PV and solar thermal systems were recorded during a period of at least twelve months. The room parameters temperature and relative humidity, and in some cases the CO2 content were also monitored. The use behavior was described based on the users of the building as well as on the operation and parametrization of mostly fully automated energy facilities. The buildings were classified in a sustainability assessment according to the Austrian Total Quality Building (TQB-) system. The buildings investigated are three office buildings, a research laboratory building, a supermarket, a hotel, a nursing home, a culture and event center and a student dormitory. The main findings presented in this paper include energy efficiency potentials identified in the automated operation of the energy facilities in the investigated service buildings. Recommendations also relate to challenges of energy monitoring itself.
Reducing water footprint of building sector: concrete with seawater and marine aggregates
Authors: Arosio V , Arrigoni A , Dotelli G
Published: September 2019

Freshwater resources are currently under great pressure all over the world due to many factors, such as climate change and growing urbanization. Industrial products like concrete pauperize a significant share of available freshwater during their life cycle. Therefore, cutting down the amount of freshwater consumed by these products might be a solution to reduce the stress in regions affected by water scarcity. In this study, the potential freshwater savings linked to the adoption of innovative concrete mixtures were investigated via the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. In particular, the use of marine aggregates instead of land-based ones and seawater rather than freshwater in the mixing process of concrete were examined. To improve the validity of the analysis, the applicability to the Italian context using geo-referenced data for the distance to the coastline and the availability of freshwater was explored. Results confirmed the positive effect that the use of seawater and marine aggregates might have in reducing the water footprint of the Italian construction sector, leaving freshwater available for human consumption. Mixing concrete with seawater would lead to a reduction of its water footprint up to 12%. Moreover, if land-won aggregates were replaced with marine ones, an 84% reduction of the water footprint could be achieved. In both cases, possible burden shifting (e.g. increase of greenhouse gases emissions) should be investigated.
Sustainability assessment in Cuban cement sector- a methodological approach
Authors: Sánchez S , Cancio Y , Sánchez I R , Martirena J F , Rosa E R , Habert G
Published: September 2019

The search of sustainability is a need for human activities in general. Particularly, cement sector as a significant contributor to climate change has to implement strategies to reduce its environmental impacts. But, effective strategies have to be complemented by adequate methodological techniques to assess, guide and certificate sustainability. Amongst all the techniques developed by the scientific community in recent years, life cycle techniques highlight as one of the most used one due to its integrated and holistic philosophy. In Cuba, a new cement based on a combination of calcined clay and limestone to reduce clinker to 50% (Low Carbon Cement, LC3) is been developed as part of an international collaboration project. The main goal of this research is to assess sustainability of cement sector in Cuba using life cycle techniques such as: Life cycle assessment (environmental-LCA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC), Economic Life Cycle Assessment (EcLCA). As part of the assessment LC3 is compared with traditional produced cements in Cuba OPC and PPC. Results show that LC3 introduction allows increasing sustainability in cement sector by reducing carbon emissions, energy consumption, costs and reporting positive effects on society.
Eco-efficiency assessment of conventional OPC/PPC replacement by LC3 in Cuban residential buildings
Authors: Cancio Díaz Y , Sánchez Berriel S , Sánchez Machado I R , Martirena Hernández J F , Habert G
Published: September 2019

This paper aims at assessing the sustainability of replacing conventional OPC/PPC by Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3) in Cuba. Authors conducted an eco-efficiency (E-E) analysis supported by E-E ratios, which in turn are rooted on the environmental assessment (Life Cycle Assessment, LCA) and the economic analysis (Economic Value Added, EVA). Taking case studies in Villa Clara province capital district, three construction methods were compared and further conclusions emerged with regard to economic and ecological criteria. A square meter of built area was employed as functional unit. According to main results, Grand panel technique appears to be the benchmarking method, followed by Forsa system and, finally, concrete block technique. LC3 blend outperforms OPC/PPC from both economic and environmental perspective. Furthermore, productive efficiency potentials were found on the field of material selection and raw material procurement. Authors provided decision-makers with some policy recommendations in order to contribute enhancing the sustainable use of LC3 in Cuban construction sector.
Ecological performance and recycling options of primary structures
Authors: Fadai A , Stephan D
Published: September 2019

A sustainably and optimally building material is defined consequently in a well-balanced relation between ecological aspects and structural engineering requirements and should be selected depending on external conditions. By choosing environmentally friendly building materials and joining techniques, at least resource-efficient and sustainable construction can be achieved. As a contribution to the discussion about which building materials offer the most optimal and environmentally friendly properties for the construction industry, this paper gives an overview of sustainable construction. It illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of certain building materials and structural components by comparing their mechanical properties and ecological aspects using various types of life-cycle assessment (LCA). As far as construction materials are concerned, e.g. wood-based materials have the greatest potential in terms of renewable primary energy demand compared to all other constructions materials. Furthermore, due to the high recycling potential, wood has the lowest share of non-renewable primary energy demand, whereas the highest non-renewable primary energy demand is caused by mineral building materials. This paper illustrates how the natural resources can be used both optimally and sustainably. It presents a conceptual framework for scenario development of the LCA of primary structures, their effect on the design and decision-making process.
A comparative study on nonlinear damping behaviors of precast and cast-in-situ recycled aggregate concrete frames
Authors: Xiao J , Wang C , Wang C , Ding T , Singh A
Published: September 2019

It has been well accepted that applying recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) into structural engineering is a sustainable method to solve the problem of construction and building waste (CDW) accumulation meanwhile to save natural resources exploitation. Precast RAC members in factories is beneficial to improve their qualities and will extend the RAC application. This study presents nonlinear damping behaviors of precast and cast-in-situ RAC frames after simulated earthquakes, as a reference of quality control of precast RAC members, and of damage detection under ambient vibration. The nonlinear damping of precast RAC slabs with different damage degrees was studied to validate the feasibility of applying the quadratic damping coefficient as a sensitive damage factor without any requirement of undamaged baseline. Meanwhile a comparative study on nonlinear damping behaviors of a precast and a cast-in-situ RAC frames was conducted. Results highlight a change of nonlinear damping mechanism for both precast and cast-in-situ RAC frames from a viscous damping into a nonlinear damping. The precast RAC frame had a comparatively larger quadratic damping coefficient before and after earthquake hitting, indicating it had more severe initial damage and damage developed more significantly compared with the cast-in-situ frame. A unified damage classification was proposed for both precast and cast-in-situ RAC frames based on quadratic damping coefficient and observation.
Outcomes of a Student Research Project on Circular Building Systems – Focus on the Educational Aspect
Authors: Janssens B , Knapen E , Winkels P , Verbeeck G
Published: September 2019

The growing need to shift from a linear to a circular economy has inspired producers of building materials and systems to innovate their products to match the requirements of a future circular economy. Others have been developing modular systems in the past to simplify the building process and are now reconsidering these products for their potential in a circular economy. However, at this early stage on the road towards a circular economy, claims of circularity are often made too easily and many producers as well as architects and builders are still struggling with the practice of circular building. In this context and within an assignment for master students in architecture, three cavity walls, each 9m2 and composed with a different system for the inner and the outer wall, have been constructed and disassembled in order to test their potential for circularity. The extent of circularity has been critically analysed with an existing framework of evaluation criteria for design for change: three criteria on interface level (reversibility, simplicity, speed), three on component level (compatibility, durability, manageability) and three on composition level (independence, pace-layering, prefabrication). This analysis was complemented with an environmental assessment of the materials used and with interviews with contractors who have experience with these systems. In a final step, proposals for improvement of the products and systems have been made and tested on a mockup scale, in order to better fit a possible future circular economy.
Comparative analysis of an existing public building made from natural building materials and reference buildings designed from common building materials
Authors: Medgyasszay P
Published: September 2019

The paper examines a public building constructed of partially natural materials and two imagined buildings with the same geometry, using LCC and LCA methods, with self-developed software. The imagined buildings were designed using the building materials and building mechanical systems commonly used in Hungary which fulfil the relevant energetic requirements in 2010 and in 2019. As a sensitivity analysis the LCA performance of buildings was examined with residential building function. The paper introduces the environmental benefits that can be obtained with natural materials and with other tools in case of the examined building. Based on the results, design strategies can be phrase for environmentally conscious design of buildings with similar scale and function.
Linking construction timber carbon storage with land use and forestry management practices
Authors: Forster E J , Healey J R , Dymond C C , Newman G , Davies G , Styles D
Published: September 2019

Consequential life cycle assessment was applied to forestry systems to evaluate the environmental balance of expanding forestry onto marginal agricultural land to supply more timber for the built environment, accounting for land use effects and product substitution. Forestry expansion to supply timber buildings could mitigate UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2.4 Gg CO2 eq. per ha of forest over 100 years, though net mitigation could be halved if beef production were displaced to Brazil. Forest thinning increases wood yields and percentage conversion of harvested wood to construction sawnwood, resulting in 5% greater net GHG mitigation compared with unthinned systems. Optimising the environmental sustainability of construction timber value chains in a circular, bio-based economy will require holistic accounting of land use (change), forestry management and complex flows of wood.
ENERFUND - Identifying and rating deep renovation opportunities
Authors: Geissler S , Androutsopoulos A , Charalambides A G , Jareño Escudero C , Jensen O M , Kyriacou O , Petran H
Published: September 2019

European Directive (EU) 2018/844 amending Directives 2010/31/EU (EPBD) and 2012/27/EU (EED) aims at decarbonizing the European building stock. Energy efficiency measures and renewable energy use play an important role, especially regarding retrofit of existing buildings. Identification of retrofit opportunities and aggregation of projects to benefit from economy of scale are a precondition for the implementation of large-scale renovation projects. The ENERFUND project, funded by the HORIZON 2020 programme, provides data from Energy Performance Certificates according to EPBD publicly available in the form of a map and combines them with other geo-referenced data and general information to allow for the rating of deep renovation and carbon reduction opportunities. In this way, the tool assists in identifying retrofit opportunities and aggregation of projects for financing. It also assists in supply-side energy spatial planning, because it shows where energy consumption is likely to decrease due to economic renovation potentials. This contribution shows an overview of data available for thirteen European Member States. Data sources and differences regarding the type of data are explained, and challenges such as data quality issues and data protection concerns are discussed. It is demonstrated that the ENERFUND tool certainly assists in decarbonizing the European building stock, although some improvements are still necessary.
Energy transition and technical energy regulations in the building sector
Authors: Knoeri C , Schwarz M , Nakhle C
Published: September 2019

Energy demand from buildings accounts for about 31% of global final energy demand and 23% of global energy-related carbon emissions. Technical energy regulations or building energy codes - policies that set minimum requirements for energy in buildings – have proven effective and efficient in decarbonizing the building sector. However, despite their long history and success, policymakers increasingly recognise that TERs in their current design have reached a point of diminishing returns. This study evaluates five countries with innovative building energy codes – Denmark, France, England, Switzerland, and Sweden – through reviewing legal documents and conducting expert interviews with researchers, practitioners, and regulators. Our results highlight the implementation challenges of innovative building energy codes and we provide learnings in form of six design principles.