bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Storage on Structural Damage of Vegetable-Tanned Goat Skin by Microbes
Authors: Alwan Muhammad Iwan , Parameswari Arnieda Asfarina , Pertiwiningrum Ambar , Fitriyanto Nanung Agus , Pastawan Viagian
Published: December 2022

This study aimed to determine the influence of storage on the structural damage of vegetable-tanned goat skin by microbes. The storage time was divided into three treatments, namely treatment P0 (0 months, storage), treatment P1 (6 months, storage), and treatment P2 (12 months, storage). The observation parameters for investigation included microbe contamination, pH levels, and levels of oil/fat. This study was conducted with Analysis Variance Completely Randomized Design (ANOVA) and Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) to determine the differences between treatments. In contrast, analysis regression was used to obtain the optimum level. The research found that the highest amount of microbial contamination on the leather occurred at month 12, with the amount of microbial contamination reaching 4.46x103 CFU. The best storage for pH levels occurred at month 14 and pH 5.16. The skin with the best oil content is in the third month, with an oil/fat content of 7.97%.
The Urban Environment and Public Health: Associations Between COVID-19 Cases and Urban Factors in Semarang City, Central Java, Indonesia
Authors: Wahid Wewin Wira Cornelis , Setyono Jawoto Sih
Published: December 2022

UN-Habitat noted that COVID-19 cases were disproportionately found in urban areas. A question arises as to what urban factors are related and how they are related. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the association between urban factors and cumulative cases of COVID-19 in Semarang City, the fifth largest Indonesian city with diverse urban characteristics. Through literature review, twelve urban factors were selected and tested against cumulative COVID-19 cases. The study was conducted cross-sectionally during the new normal period until just before the delta variant of COVID-19 emerged. The association was analyzed using robust regression because the OLS regression assumptions were not met. This study found a strong association based on a high R2 (0.725) value. This study also found six significant variables and found that; (1) elderlies are a vulnerable group that needs to be cared for, (2) planned densities are associated with lower COVID-19 cases, and (3) COVID-19 spread among the poor is presumably undetected, (4) bus transportation and (5) commercial facilities have higher COVID-19 transmission risk. Finally, the study outlines implications for future planning to promote planned densities, light active mobility, reduce poverty, and increase healthcare capacity.
Greener Communication: To Make Better Understand the Interaction between Aging and the Environment
Authors: Irwansyah  , Ernungstya Niken Febrina
Published: December 2022

As a part of a marginalized and vulnerable group, global older adult and environmental change bring together two key policy challenges that must be addressed to ensure a sustainable future. In terms of the communication perspective of sustainable development goals, communication performance should address environmental factors for the effectiveness of successful aging. The success of the communication strategies and attitudes scale in two previous studies was applied in the current study. This study applied a survey to assisted-specific living communities with the 71 items of communication scale for older adults. The result showed that older adults’ communication strategies and attitudes scale has high validity and reliability. Several items of communication strategies and attitudes were modified based on the local context of a specific region in Indonesia. This study concluded that an Indonesian version of the greener communication self-assessment scale of older adults (Indonesian-Greener CSOA) could be developed for more local contexts in specific regions of Indonesia, including the integration with the model that applied a greener communication perspective. The existing greener communication perspective could make a better understanding of the interaction between global aging and the environment to prevent and minimize disproportionate negative impacts on older people.
Analysis of Students’ Participation in Practicing the Concept of Green Campus
Authors: Eprilianto DE , Ma’ruf MF , Pradana GW , Hilmi AN , Habibah UN
Published: December 2022

Campus’s future contribution to sustainable development will continue, driven by the global community. Green Campus becomes a promoted program to answer that challenges. This study aims to know how students participate in the concept of Green Campus. This study was conducted with an online survey method using Google Forms by 205 respondents who are students of the State University of Surabaya. The survey was conducted in the period time June - August 2022. Data analysis techniques are carried out with approach qualitative general by inductive. This study shows students’ participation in practicing the concept of Green Campus through eight indicators measurement. Obtained average participation of 80%. The highest percentage was found in the maintenance of eco-friendly infrastructures, and the lowest was found in research or innovation in the environment and renewable energy field. It shows that students participate well in realizing the Green Campus at the State University of Surabaya.
Performance of Green Environmental Governance at State University of Surabaya, Indonesia
Authors: Megawati Suci , Setyowati Raden Roro Nanik , Fitrie Revienda Anita , Oktariyanda Trenda Aktiva , Wahyuni Jauhar , Wastiti Meki , Tamianingsih
Published: December 2022

Sustainable development of the environment is one of the things that must be fulfilled, especially in the university environment, including at the State University of Surabaya. Through the eco-campus program, the State University of Surabaya (Unesa) participates in green environmental management that supports sustainable development. The purpose of this study was to describe the performance of green environmental governance at the State University of Surabaya. The research method uses a literature/library study approach. Data analysis methods with data minimization, data visualization, data analysis, data validation, and concluding. The results of the study stated that Unesa has six aspects that are of concern in the sustainability of environmental development: policies and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste management, water management, transportation, and education. From the six aspects, Unesa has carried out activities that support energy saving and environmental awareness. The total final score for the assessment of the six aspects is 65.75% which is good but still needs to be improved to make it even better. In conclusion, Unesa already has activities and programs supporting sustainable development, but it still needs improvement to improve the environment.
Stakeholder Roles on Tourism Management, Environment Protection, and Conservation in Post Covid-19
Authors: Handayani D , Lazuardi S V
Published: December 2022

The tourism sector has a strong attraction to visitors. The increasing number of visitors encourages the creation of sustainable tourism. Sustainability is strongly related to stakeholders, so it can not be excluded. This study aims to analyze stakeholder roles in environmental management in the tourism sector. This study uses a literature review as the method. This study shows that stakeholders with various roles supported the tourism sector. Visitors are the critical actor in environmental protection, and the community was another actor with support from the government to the tourism business actors. Various stakeholder interests and priorities were not obstacles to the management. To unite the goals and vision, it needs commitment and cooperation to reach environmental protection.
Leadership as the Main Driving Factor of Regional Sustainable Development Cooperation: A Case Study of ASEAN Tuna Ecolabelling (ATEL)
Authors: Notohamijoyo Andre , Huseini Martani , Sugandhi Hendra , Harsanti Elishabeth Srihayu , Wiyata Adhi Setya , Billah Mustaidz
Published: December 2022

ASEAN Tuna Ecolabelling (ATEL) has agreed on a scheme of tuna ecolabelling after the approval at the Ministerial of ASEAN Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) meeting in 2018. It makes ATEL the first regional seafood eco-label scheme in the world. It becomes an achievement of ASEAN in supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially for tuna fisheries management. Unfortunately, after four years, its scheme has not yet been completed and takes no support from ASEAN countries, including Indonesia as the initiator. Lack of leadership in ASEAN is the leading cause of the delay in the implementation of ATEL in its region. Leadership is the primary key to encouraging sustainable development, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study aims to analyze the lack of leadership as the main factor in the low effectiveness of regional cooperation in ASEAN. This research is expected to be a solution for completing the ATEL implementation process in that region.
Improving Urban Resilience During COVID-19 Pandemic by Implementing Smart City Initiatives: A Case of Tangerang City, Indonesia
Authors: Kusumastuti Ratih Dyah , Nurmala  , Rouli Juliana , Trialdi Ledi , Safitri Rahayu
Published: December 2022

Many cities in Indonesia are prone to disasters, and the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic taught a lesson on how important for a city to be resilient to disaster. Previous studies indicated that smart city initiatives could improve a city’s resilience toward disasters. This paper sheds light on how implementing innovative initiatives can improve a city’s resilience toward disasters. We review the existing literature on smart city and resilient city concepts and conduct a focus group discussion with the representative of the local government of Tangerang city, Banten province of Indonesia, to understand how the city improves its resilience towards disaster by implementing smart city initiatives. The results indicate that city has developed various software applications and community engagement programs to break the chain of transmission. The results also suggest that city leadership and citizen engagement play an essential role in developing a smart and resilient city.
Delivering a net zero carbon built environment – Targets and Pathways
Authors: He Bao-Jie , Prasad Deo
Published: December 2022

Carbon neutrality is expected to address climate change challenges, and its achievement requires the collective efforts of various industries and sectors. The building and construction sector is a big energy consumer and greenhouse gas emitter, providing numerous opportunities for carbon neutrality. This indicates a need for a net zero carbon built environment, although the targets and pathways to it are still unclear. The paper, therefore, aims to address this research gap by reviewing the existing definition of net zero carbon and the targets set by international institutions (e.g., GABC, WorldGBC, RIBA, LETI, and AIA). The paper also defines the principles behind setting the decarbonisation targets, and presents the pathways tailored to the Australian building and construction sector. Overall, this paper is of importance in demonstrating a methodological framework for determining the net zero operational and embodied carbon targets and the associated pathways for decarbonising the built environment. The method is expected to be suitable for many other nations.
Nature-based Solutions for Industrial Logistic Parks.
Authors: Agudo-Sierra E , Llaguno-Munitxa M
Published: December 2022

The growth of logistic cities and freight villages to meet the increasing demand of e-commerce is unstoppable. This strategic sector has boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is estimated that by 2025, 138 million sqm of additional e-commerce areas will be built worldwide. Only in the last decade, the European logistic construction activity has tripled. Endless cities of asphalt and concrete have been built to host e-commerce companies, posing severe environmental threats such as desertification, loss of ecosystem and wildlife. Seeking to resolve these challenges, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization has proposed an international framework for Eco-Industrial Parks, with environmental guidelines for rainwater management, biodiversity preservation, or creation of recreational areas amongst others. However, prior studies and recommendations focused on the formulation of resilient spatial planning solutions for industrial logistic areas are yet very limited, and comprehensive literature reviews are still lacking. Aiming to address this research gap, this paper includes a review of recent investigations and projects focused on the study of resilient solutions for the design of industrial logistic areas. A bibliometric analysis of the literature published in Scopus database from 1992 to 2022 concerning terms such as Industrial Park, Eco-Industrial Park, or Nature-based Solutions is presented. The results reveal that the connection between Industrial Logistic Parks and Nature-based Solutions is very weak, or almost non-existent. This paper also discusses the project Plataforma Central Iberum-one of the largest industrial logistic spaces (3.5 million sqm) built in Spain- as a case study. This project is one of the first Industrial Logistic Parks developed in this country where nature-based solutions such as the integration of rainwater wetlands, load-bearing permeable pavements, green v-ditch medians, and natural self-sustaining infrastructure parks with diverse native plant species, were implemented. Overall, this paper aims to highlight the urgency to discuss and adopt Nature-based Solutions to render Industrial Logistic Parks more resilient.
Reusing concrete panels from the industrial mass housing of the 1960s
Authors: Vestergaard Inge
Published: December 2022

A strong political strategy of demolishment is currently seen in the social housing sector from the 1960s and the early 1970s in Denmark. Architecture and building technology of that period are based on industrial mass production of concrete panels. The ideas behind the current demolition strategies are to overcome social problems by erasing housing blocks and replace them with new housing types and new functions. In this processs, even architectural heritage is demolished and the neighborhoods transformed into so-called mixed areas. Valuable building materials and a great number of excellent flats are downcycled into banal gravel. In contrast this paper will provide considerations concerning the question of reusing concrete panels in future architectural construction in Denmark. The paper clarifies potentials and barriers for reusing concrete panels in Denmark. It is the ambition to develop a more environmentally friendly thinking concerning the transformations of the neighborhoods towards more responsible housing areas. It is argued that if more environmental regards were taken, concrete panels can be reused as building materials in their second life and thereby as building components create both an architectural narrative of what was here, and at the same time apply for a more ecological use of already existing building materials. The paper forms a knowledge foundation to which further research regarding reuse of concrete panels can be developed in new architecture in Denmark.
Services for sustainable future lifestyle in smart blocks—empowering people to make a difference
Authors: Nuutinen Maaria , Lappalainen Inka
Published: December 2022

It is crucial to find new ways to support the ecological, economic and social sustainability of the built environment in the urban context. This paper aims to contribute new knowledge on service opportunities related to sustainable future urban lifestyles and thus to support the sustainability progress of the built environment. The paper is based on an on-going abductive study. As a main conceptual contribution, the tentative illustration of key elements of service innovations for future sustainable urban living is presented. The empirical results highlighted three issues related to realising service opportunities that can support the needed transformation of urban living. These are: 1) the systemic nature of the required change and contribution of multiple stakeholders, 2) as a consequence the need for co-creation in the ecosystem was acknowledged and 3) the need for better indicators for evaluating and communicating the threefold sustainability impact in such a way that it takes into account the future of urban living. The illustration and the empirical insights provide several avenues for future studies including the on-going study. These together with the main limitations of the study are summarised at the end of the paper.
Renaissance of villages for the revitalization of marginal areas
Authors: Moghadam Sara Torabi , Pignatelli Maurizia , Collin Alice , Lombardi Patrizia
Published: December 2022

There is now a clear disparity between major cities and villages located in marginal areas of Italy. Progressive depopulation of inland areas and urban polarization such as consolidated territorial dynamics are difficult to dampen and adapt to the new paradigms of sustainable territorial development, although they have been abruptly redirected by the Covid 19 pandemic. The instability created by this pandemic offers the opportunity to redefine new parameters of intervention and new scenarios for the development of territories in relation to the new needs of decentralization and physical distancing. The project “Renaissance of villages for the revitalization of marginal areas” aims to create the conditions to repopulate and rebalance shrinking territories by establishing new centers of attractiveness. This project envisages the active involvement of municipalities and local authorities with the aims at implementing the multi-sectoral analysis of the tangible and intangible values of territories. It intends to develop an interactive web dashboard to be provided to municipalities in order to create both a learning environment and a spatial decision support system for future local policy actions towards a sustainable participatory local development. In this way, it is proposed a functional method with a place-based approach to managing the existing territorial complexity through innovative models of territorial governance and policymaking, among them the effective implementation of participatory and multi-actor visions of territorial development. Specifically, this paper provides the Italian villages’ archetypes through the quantitative spatial cluster multivariate analysis, which is the basis for the construction of the dashboard. To cluster the villages, the main variables have been identified, assesses, and mapped. The results are fundamental in order to define the future scenarios for each archetype assessing the Key Performance indicators (KPIs).
Quantifying stress level reduction induced by urban greenery perception
Authors: Llaguno-Munitxa M , Edwards M , Grade S , Vander Meulen M , Letesson C , Sierra E Agudo , Altomonte S , Lacroix E , Bogosian B , Kris M , Macagno E
Published: December 2022

Urban stress is one of today’s most critical health challenges that urban stakeholders need to urgently address. However, while the positive role of nature for mental health and stress level reduction has been widely reported, the role distinct urban green infrastructure design characteristics play in citizen stress level reduction is yet to be understood. This paper presents a novel methodology where virtual reality, eye-tracking technologies, biometric sensing for heart rate variability, and participant questionnaires have been combined, to evaluate the psychological and physiological stress level reduction capacity of urban green infrastructure. 30 subjects have participated in a virtual reality immersion of 12 urban squares. 360° images were captured for each square, and mapped on a virtual sphere surrounding the participant. For each urban square, the green view index was computed using semantic image classification, and based on the obtained green view index values, the images were organized in two blocks: green >35% and non-green <20%. The eye-tracking data showed significant differences between green and non-green blocks. Fixation counts decreased in the green image block, which is an indicator of stress reduction. The perceived restorativeness scale questionnaire also reported highly significant differences with higher global scores for the green image block.
The equitable housing workshop. Mapping and improving stakeholders’ decision-making process for circular equitable housing projects.
Authors: Lespagnard M. , Galle W. , De Temmerman N.
Published: December 2022

A growing housing crisis in Western Europe increases the pressure on conventional support measures and further reduces the accessibility to equitable housing. Yet, the necessary transition to a sustainable and circular construction economy could be an opportunity to meet this social challenge. Research on the long-term costs and savings of circular strategies in housing projects demonstrates that applying specific circular strategies to specific projects can improve the long-term affordability of housing. Little research mentions circular building’s relation to housing quality nor the decision mechanism behind the design process of housing projects. Since these decisions are not only based on costs, but also social factors and practical considerations, it is important to take these into account. Introducing systems thinking in the design process could lead to more inclusive, and mindful decision making in the design process of housing projects. This paper proposes a methodology to encourage stakeholders in a housing project to think systemically and to have an open discussion about housing dimensions. The equitable housing workshop allows us to visually display rather complex networks of decisions and influences present in a project. The workshop continues by challenging the participants to find solutions that fit within the equitable housing model. These solutions are then linked to circular building strategies to encourage participants to look for sustainable and circular solutions. This also shows them how circular building design can make housing more equitable, and therefore, give them the tools to tailor a circular strategy specifically to their project. For researchers, analysing the participant’s discussions, held throughout the workshop, can bring new insights into the relationship between equitable housing and circular building.
Nested Phoenix: a bottom-up Python model for the life cycle environmental performance of urban built stocks
Authors: Stephan A , Mulders G , Slavkovic K
Published: December 2022

Buildings and infrastructure assets in cities represent the dominant majority of the anthropogenic material stock and with the expected population growth this is set to double by 2100. It is therefore critical to quantify the life cycle environmental performance of built stocks, existing and forthcoming, to better manage them, modify their designs and mitigate climate change and resource depletion. Yet existing models fail to provide the required spatial and temporal resolution, are not comprehensive enough and often do not capture shifts in environmental effects. This paper presents Nested Phoenix, a bottom-up Python model that addresses these gaps and provides one of the most sophisticated models for built stocks to date. We present the scope of the model, its functionalities and development solutions before describing the different Python packages used, the overall approach and the database and model architecture. Nested Phoenix enables quantifying material stocks and flows and life cycle embodied, operational and transport environmental flows, alongside carbon sequestration in green infrastructure and biogenic carbon. This is coupled with a dynamic modelling approach that enables the investigation of myriad scenarios over time. This capacity, coupled with spatialization using geographic information systems, represents the breadth of Nested Phoenix.
Assessing material and embodied flows related to building services in office buildings — the case of Brussels, Belgium
Authors: Loreau S , Stephan A , Cooper D R , Maerckx A
Published: December 2022

An increasing number of cities and regions are promoting reuse as a key strategy in the transition towards a more circular economy in the construction sector. However, the reuse supply chains for building services are currently underdeveloped in most cities and regions. There is a need for a better understanding of the material flows at the city and regional levels. This study describes a bottom-up approach to quantify material flows related to building services as well as their embodied environmental and economic flows. It relies on the selection of a minimum of 1 new construction or renovation project representing material inflows and 1 demolition or renovation project representing material outflows. Actual products from bill of quantities and pre-demolition audits are mapped against a list of 234 archetypes, and archetypal inflows and outflows are extrapolated to the city or regional level. This model is applied to all office buildings in the Region of Brussels, Belgium. Results show that rectangular ductwork is responsible for almost 30% of annual inflows of building services, which amount to 32 km/year, 1,6 kt/year, require 96 thousand m3 of freshwater/year, 131 TJ of primary energy/year, emit 9,9 kt CO2 eq/year, cost 3;4 MEUR/year to project developers, and whose installation in buildings represents 51 khours/year. In addition, results show that the outflows of black steel pipes, recessed luminaires and electrical cables exceed the inflows on an annual basis, suggesting that there is significant potential for covering needs through the reuse of those products.
A review of embodied life cycle assessment tools used to support the building design process
Authors: Prideaux Fabian , Allacker Karen , Crawford Robert H. , Stephan André
Published: December 2022

Buildings and construction have a significant effect on our natural environment and are major contributors towards global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Understanding and improving the environmental performance of buildings is critical to reducing these effects. While there has been some success reducing the operational effects of buildings, the significance of embodied environmental effects is rising. Built environment professionals must be better equipped to understand and integrate these considerations into iterative decision-making processes. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a commonly used technique to quantify environmental effects across the life cycle of a building, however, it is not widely used by building designers. This is partially due to time constraints, the complexity of conducting detailed LCA, and the limited amount of building information available during early building design. The aim of this review is to identify the breadth of LCA tools available that support the building design process, with a focus on embodied environmental effects. A review of literature is conducted which identifies attributes and properties of these tools including: software attributes, relevance to design phases, features for building design, life cycle coverage, and data attributes. The review finds a lack of consistency between LCA tools, with varying levels of data transparency and completeness, and challenges for incorporating these tools into prevalent design workflows.
Emissions at a crossroad – a crossroad NZE design method
Authors: Dietz Søren Riis
Published: December 2022

This analysis looks into how to balance energy saving and energy effectivity in order to contribute to the 2030 70% reduction - and 2050 emission neutral targets. Embodied Carbon in insulation is a smaller part of an energy efficient buildings. Use of more insulation and higher energy class design leads to higher energy effectivity in energy systems. The best greenhouse gas emission reductions are reached with Passive House Plus standard and higher.
BIMobility Simulator as a BIM-based solution for integration of e-mobility in design process.
Authors: Di Blasio I , Penna P , Monizza G P , Riedl M , Matt D T
Published: December 2022

Electromobility is an opportunity to reduce the effects of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on climate change. For this reason, electromobility use is increasing and designers must consider Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) as part of the building system. Building Information Modelling (BIM)-based technologies are potentially useful for considering sustainable aspects and systems in the building process. This paper deals with the development of a BIM-based tool that integrates electromobility into construction design. The goal is to support the integration of electromobility into the design of buildings or neighbourhoods and to guide the project towards an optimal configuration. The components of the electromobility infrastructure are included in the building model and an automated data exchange process between BIM software and Microsoft Excel evaluates some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The KPIs are shown by means of a user interface with a series of graphs and they allow to evaluate the most efficient scenario by comparing different project alternatives. The paper describes how the information flow has been structured, in order to automatically evaluate the electromobility integration and optimize the design process.
Life Cycle Assessment through BIM-based advanced Calculation Virtual Environment workflows
Authors: Brazzalle T F , Tagliabue L C , Dotelli G
Published: December 2022

The current built stock in Europe is large and energetically inefficient due to material decay caused by lifelong use and lack of maintenance, combined. New buildings are commissioned and delivered everyday with an environmental cost, calculated using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The LCA is now widely requested for new assets, while existing ones are left for demolition and consequent carbon emissions released into the atmosphere, increasing the environmental crisis. In an effort to increase built stock’s energy efficiency rates and decrease carbon emission, the recovery of these assets is depicted as the strategic next step for the construction sector. Both goals are achieved using data generated by dedicated construction software and processed in Calculation Virtual Environment, according to the specific needed data. The use of BIM for refurbishment design projects allows virtual construction separated by phases to simulate existing conditions of the envelope and its improvement with insulation material options. The use of one single file with clear phase definitions ensures data extraction and transference for all material options. The process is not entirely automated nevertheless it allows to save, use and share data whenever needed. The connection between data sources and databases in the cloud provides timesaving and regular updates. The research findings demonstrate the positive outcomes of modeling existing structures for energy simulation oriented to use in LCA, increasing the potential of BIM use in sensitive constructions while delivering appropriate results based on model and enriched geometry, with cost evaluation potential enabling scenario comparison for better decision making.
Materials role in pavement design and its impacts in LCA of road construction and use phase
Authors: Negishi K , De Montaignac R , Miravalls N
Published: December 2022

Connecting real material databases at a very early stage enables to measure, predict and support informed decision making based on energy and carbon performance in the infrastructure sector. While, in the past twenty years, a significant increase of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) research for road construction projects was seen, data collection and management still remains one of the main challenges. Having a capability to combine the planning, execution, maintenance and recycling on one platform greatly contributes to reducing the effort and assessment execution time and early stage decision makings. ORIS is the first web-based material platform enabling more sustainable road construction with optimised solutions, bringing an assessment of different pavement design options within a geolocalised material sourcing environment. Based on the embedding local design catalogues and its automatized data-driven approach, an exhaustive LCA analysis is performed on road for its whole life cycle conformed to LCA standards. A case study in the United Kingdom demonstrated the life cycle carbon and cost assessment with a significant contribution of use phase modules (30-40% of the total) and the potential of 56% reduction in the global warming indicator from the product and construction phase and 24% in total life cycle saving 720 k£.
Building passports and material inventories – concepts, trends, job sharing
Authors: Buchholz M , Lützkendorf T
Published: December 2022

The real estate industry is motivated to contribute to a more sustainable built environment. To meet future sustainability goals, building owners and other decision makers rely on high-quality building-related data. On the one hand, possibilities to collect, access and exchange data improve constantly due to developments in information technology. On the other hand, the task to manage data as a growing and versatile resource becomes more difficult. To overcome resulting challenges, the use of building passports, that can serve as a life cycle data repository for single buildings, can be very useful. The importance of building passports is more and more recognised within the industry, but there is an ongoing discussion about their original function. For this reason, the contribution firstly explains the origins of building passports and how the concept has evolved over time. Furthermore, the following research questions are addressed: (1) What are the main goals, functions and requirements of building passports? (2) Which current developments are related to building passports and how do specific concepts differ? (3) How can a job-sharing with other instruments like material passports be realised and what are the benefits? The research focuses on the situation in Germany considering developments on EU level.
Typha as a circular building material.
Authors: Brinksma H , van der Stelt M J C , Oostra Mieke
Published: December 2022

Innovation towards biobased energy concepts.

In 2050, the European Union aims to have created a carbon free and circular society. At the same time nature and biodiversity needs to be restored. For the current energy transition in the built environment this means not only developing solutions that can reduce energy consumption considerably, preferably changing the built environment, who currently is responsible for 40% of total energy consumption worldwide, into an energy producing part of society. This also means that the embodied energy and the environmental impact of solutions used for this major renovation challenge needs to be lowered substantially, or better still, to be transformed into a positive impact.

The aim of this paper is to describe the outcomes of a development towards a circular and biobased sandwich panel from Typha. Research is used to make an inventory of the possibilities for realizing a circular sandwich roof element with the use of Cattail (Typha) as a construction and insulation material. It is important to determine what the properties are of the new Cattail sheet material and what preconditions are needed to use Cattail in construction. Currently the industry mainly uses harmful binders, such as aldehydes and isocyanates, these chemicals are heavily polluted These binders cannot be regarded as a circular solution and therefore alternatives had to be found. How can a circular sandwich roof element be made from Cattail and which circular adhesives are important? Finally, it is important to determine what the use of Cattails contributes to the reduction of the amount of carbon and nitrogen. It is possible that a renovation concept can be realized with a negative carbon footprint.
Circularity and LCA - material pathways: the cascade potential and cascade database of an in-use building product
Authors: Schaubroeck Simon , Dewil Reginald , Allacker Karen
Published: December 2022

Improving circularity in the building sector entails ensuring greater material efficiency to avoid virgin material extraction. To assist stakeholders in decisions regarding salvaging an in-use building product, the potential further uses of this salvaged product and its materials should be determined. In other words, its cascade potential should be determined given circular strategies, i.e. to reuse, repurpose, repair sequentially. To predict the cascade potential, a database is required that combines (acquired) product data, assembly characteristics and process data, e.g., info on the process to melt old steel. This database is referred to as a cascade database. The aim of this research is to study steps to form this database, specifically, the combination of product passports and an LCA process database. Hereto, major existing European data tools are considered. For product data, material passports and digital product passports initiatives are identified and compared. For process data, LCA databases are considered. Interactions between these data tools are a possible way to set up a partial cascade database. A workflow is then described- on how to acquire data on the cascade potential of a product from such a database. We note that the cascade database also relies on extensive (economic) forecast models, data collection and stakeholder interaction. Setting up such an extensive database and generating all possible cascading paths is a challenging, if not unachievable, feat. Nevertheless, even limited applications of this database might help reach a more circular economy.
Circularity and LCA - material pathways: cascade potential and cascade environmental impact of an in-use building product
Authors: Schaubroeck Simon , Dewil Reginald , Allacker Karen
Published: December 2022

Improving circularity in the building sector entails ensuring greater material efficiency to avoid virgin material extraction. To assist stakeholders in decisions regarding salvaging an in-use building product, requires to predict and assess the potential further productive uses of that product and its materials. The range of possible cascade material paths originating from the in-use building product X and their assessments comprise the cascade potential of product X. Method: To determine the cascade potential and impact, we work further on existing efforts done in the field of circularity and life cycle assessment (LCA). This entails discussing scenario models to predict cascade material pathways over time, and multifunctionality solutions to assess those pathways. Due to the fact that the environment is a complex system and long term forecasting is required, the cascade potential can never be exactly determined. Therefore, we first set up conceptual formulas and then discuss steps to make these formulas feasible. Furthermore, the effort to generate the cascade paths originating from a product, can also be used to form circular systems that adhere to carbon mitigation pathways.
Potential of Earth-Based Bamboo Bio-Concrete in the Search for Circular and Net-Zero Carbon Solutions to Construction Industry
Authors: Araujo A , da Silva N , Sá T , Caldas L , Toledo Filho R
Published: December 2022

In order to limit climate change by achieving goals of cutting emissions down to net-zero by 2050, stronger efforts are needed to reduce the whole life cycle emissions of buildings. Integrating residual bio-based and earth-based solutions to concrete seems to stand out in the sector since these solutions have the potential of lowering materials embodied emissions, and enhancing building thermal performance. However, it is still unclear how environmentally beneficial bio-based and earth-based materials are and how they behave mechanically when they are both integrated into concrete. In order to know their potential applications in the sector, this study aims to evaluate and compare the mechanical performance and environmental profile of Earth-based Bamboo Bio-Concretes (EBBCs) with different earth fractions as partial replacements of the cementitious matrix, by evaluating its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. For that, it was considered the use of only bio-based aggregates (bamboo waste) instead of mineral ones at a fixed volume fraction of 45%. The methodology involved the: processing and characterization of earth and bamboo; EBBCs dosage study and mechanical testing; consideration of fixed proportions of binders of 30:30:40 (cement: metakaolin: fly ash) which were replaced gradually by earth in the volume fractions of 10%, 15%, and 20%. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used for accounting GHG emissions. LCA scope was from cradle-to-gate considering biogenic carbon methodology and avoided impacts of incinerating bamboo waste. A sensitive analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of transport distances variation of bamboo waste. Mechanical results point to an increase in EBBCs compressive strength with the increase of earth content until 15% of cementitious matrix replacement. LCA results showed negative embodied GHG emissions in all mixtures with an average of -115,7 kgCO2-eq/m3 mainly due to the high biomass content in mixtures. The increase of earth content from 0% to 20% in the mixtures reduced emissions by 59,7 kgCO2-eq/m3 since the binder’s content was reduced. With that, EBBC seems to be a promising innovative material to help achieve net-zero carbon emission targets and a circular pathway in the building and construction sectors.
Analyzing Embodied Energy and Embodied Water of Construction Materials for an Environmentally Sustainable Built Environment
Authors: Dixit M K , Pradeep Kumar P
Published: December 2022

Buildings consume over 40% of global energy in their construction and operations contributing to over 39% of global carbon emission each year. This huge environmental footprint presents an excellent opportunity to reduce energy use and help deliver an environmentally sustainable built environment. Most of the energy is consumed by buildings as embodied energy (EE) and operational energy (OE). EE is used directly and indirectly during buildings’ initial construction, maintenance and replacement, and demolition phases through construction products and services. OE is used in the processes of heating, cooling, water heating, lighting, and operating building equipment. Most environmental optimization research has been centered on energy and carbon emission overlooking another critical sustainability aspect, water use. Each building also consumes a significant amount of freshwater as embodied water (EW) or virtual water in its initial construction, maintenance and replacement, and demolition phases. Since each primary and secondary energy source depletes water in its extraction, refinement or production, there is also a water expense associated with EE and OE use that must also be included in total EW use. The total EW, therefore, includes both non-energy and energy related water use. Research suggests that there are tradeoffs between EE and EW that may complicate design decisions such as material selection for environmental sustainability. In other words, a material selected for its lower EE may have higher EW and selecting such a material may not help reach environmental sustainability goals since water scarcity is becoming a grave problem. In this paper, we created an input-output-based hybrid (IOH) model for calculating and comparing EE and EW of building materials frequently used in building construction. The main goal is to examine and highlight any tradeoffs that may exist when selecting one material over another. The results reveal that there is a weak correlation between EE and total EW that is the sum of energy and non-energy water use, which means that a design decision made solely based on EE may conflict with EW. The share of energy related water use in total EW of construction materials also varies significantly (2.5%-31.2%), indicating that reducing energy use alone may not be sufficient to reduce freshwater use; additional efforts may be needed to decrease the use of materials and processes that are water intensive. The results of this study are significant to achieving the goal of creating a truly sustainable built environment.
Barriers for data management as an enabler of circular economy: an exploratory study of the Norwegian AEC-industry
Authors: Bellini A , Bang S
Published: December 2022

Effective data management can enable the utilisation of new tools and technologies and, ultimately the creation of circular business models in the building industry. To accomplish this, a targeted mapping and collection of data must take place. However, several challenges hinder the exchange of information in a seamless digital flow through the value chain and building life cycle. This exploratory study contributes to bridging the gap in the research, providing an overview of existing barriers related to mapping, collecting, and storing data about materials and products in existing buildings. The findings are obtained through 18 semi-structured interviews with experts working with circular economy and digitalisation in the Norwegian AEC-industry. Some of the identified barriers, such as the lack of data availability and interoperability, lack of competencies and unwillingness to share data, are strongly interrelated; a collaborative approach will be essential across the value chain. The research sets the basis for developing a framework for data management that can facilitate the reuse of materials and products from a building at the end of life to new construction or refurbishment projects. Ultimately, effective data management opens for developing and implementing innovative circular business models, enhancing strategic data-based asset management.
Demolish, recycle, build new or renovate – energy use throughout the life cycle.
Authors: Janson U , Farsäter K , Fransson V , Johansson D
Published: December 2022

The building industry has a major impact on the global carbon emissions, the use of natural resources and generation of waste. A drastic change is needed for this industry to be a part of a sustainable future. Within this research, a case study is performed to investigate how cultural values of a building can be preserved when energy efficiency measures are taken, with a low global warming potential (GWP). Keeping the cultural values of the red brick façade, the original window shape and the natural stone in the plinth, there is still an energy saving potential of halve the energy use for space heating. The GWP of the measures taken is strongly dependent on the energy mix in the district heating system.