scholarly journals Decarbonization and Circular Economy in the Sustainable Development and Renovation of Buildings and Neighbourhoods

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 7914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar Mercader-Moyano ◽  
Paula M. Esquivias
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Greenhouse Emissions ◽  
Efficient Construction ◽  
Whole Life Cycle

In recent years, the building sector has been turning towards intervening in the existing city building stock. In fact, it is generally accepted that the refurbishment of buildings and the urban regeneration based on sustainability must form the axis of reformulation of the building sector. Nowadays, achieving sustainable urban development inevitably involves improving existing buildings, thereby preventing the need for city growth, and for the emptying of established neighbourhoods. Furthermore, considering the whole life cycle, it is well known the great amount of greenhouse emissions derived from the construction sector, so in order to reach a decarbonized society it is important to provide eco-efficient construction materials and solutions, adding the principles of circular economy and resource efficiency. The articles of this special issue show different aspects to be considered in order to reach a decarbonized and circular building stock.

scholarly journals Circular Economy Development in the Construction Sector in Japan

World ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Roope Husgafvel ◽  
Daishi Sakaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
System Level ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Specific Method ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Whole Life Cycle

The circular economy (CE) is about a system-level change towards sustainability, and it aims at keeping products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, covering both technical and biological cycles. This study aimed at exploring, discovering, describing, and synthesizing the characteristics of CE development in the construction sector in Japan based on the perspectives of sectoral organizations and focusing on the following themes: (1) sustainable production; (2) sustainable consumption; (3) creation and maintenance of value in a CE; (4) CE innovations; (5) CE of material and energy use; (6) technological, economic, and social barriers to CE; (7) CE guidance; and (8) specific CE aspects in the construction sector. This study applied a qualitative research approach, including a questionnaire survey as the specific method. This study addressed a gap in the research and helps to improve understanding of the CE development priorities based on the perspectives of organizations operating in or related to the construction sector in Japan. The findings indicate that the priority CE development focus areas in the construction sector in Japan encompass, for example, the use of sustainable and renewable raw materials; consumer awareness; and the design, use, and manufacturing of sustainable, recyclable, reusable, and repairable products, components, and materials. The barriers to CE that need to be overcome encompass, for example, the lack of general knowledge about circular economy opportunities and of seeing the “big picture” as well as issues related to economic benefits and the development of CE and sustainability-oriented products, components, and materials. Particularly important CE aspects in the construction sector include the maintenance of existing buildings; sustainability and the long-life cycles of products, components, and materials; CE-oriented product design; and sustainability criteria and cooperation between parties covering the whole life cycle of construction.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTATION STAGE FOR CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN THE DANISH BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

Detritus ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 26-30
Author(s):  
Lisbeth M. Ottosen ◽  
Lotte B. Jensen ◽  
Thomas Astrup ◽  
Tim C. McAloone ◽  
Morten Ryberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Technical Documentation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Common Definition ◽  
Scaling Methods ◽  
Framework Conditions

The building and construction sector is selected by the European Commission as a key product value chain in the transition towards circular economy (CE) due to the major resource consumption, waste generation and GHG emissions from this sector. This paper reports the result from qualitative and semi-structured interviews with 30 Danish stakeholders from the sector on the current stage of implementation of CE and the research/innovation needs to scale circular construction from niche to mainstream. The interviews showed a large variety in the stakeholder’s stage of transition from hardly knowing the term to having CE as a major driver in their business. Some meant that scaling of CE is close to impossible and that material reuse will never develop to more than a niche, whereas others already offer full-scale circular solutions to clients. The interviews pointed at a need for a common definition and terminology for CE, methods for documenting the gains from the circular solutions (economic and environmental), methods for technical documentation of the quality of reused materials, processes which enables scaling, methods to implement CE in various systems such as digitalization and building passports, new value chains and framework conditions in support of circularity. Regardless these needs, demonstration projects of major importance to gain general knowledge have been built or are planned in Denmark. These demonstrations have different approaches: using todays waste from different industries as construction materials; reusing construction materials (the basic building, elements or processed materials); and designing new buildings for disassembly to enable future reuse.

scholarly journals Eco-Efficient Analysis of a Refurbishment Proposal for a Social Housing

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar Mercader-Moyano ◽  
Paula M. Esquivias ◽  
Radu Muntean
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Life Cycle Analysis ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Environmental Product Declaration ◽  
Integral Assessment ◽  
Indoor Comfort

In recent years, the building sector has been turning towards intervening in the existing city building stock. In fact, it is generally accepted that the refurbishment of buildings based on sustainability must form the axis of reformulation of the building sector. Although energy refurbishment is commonly accepted and recommended towards decarbonization of the building stock, an integral assessment towards implementing the principles of the circular economy must incorporate the environmental impact of the materials in order to get an eco-efficient refurbishment. The article presents the environmental analysis of a social housing located in Cadiz (Spain) and the improvements achieved by its refurbishment. This intervention is improved by incorporating eco-efficient materials based on the environmental and life cycle analysis (LCA). Those analyses are performed using EnergyPlus, Radiance, LCA standards, and Environmental Product Declaration of the products. The results shown that although an energy rehabilitation intervention can fulfil other eco-efficient aspects, an integral assessment should always be carried out in order to ensure that indoor comfort is achieved, daylighting and solar heat gains are balanced, and the environmental impact at product, use, and end-of-life stages of a building is minimized. Considering the constrains and limitations of the tools and databases, higher efforts should be done to solve them and provide useful resources for a decarbonized and circular building stock.

scholarly journals Circular Economy: Challenges and Opportunities in the Construction Sector of Kazakhstan

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Beibut Torgautov ◽  
Asset Zhanabayev ◽  
Aidana Tleuken ◽  
Ali Turkyilmaz ◽  
Mohammad Mustafa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Local Construction ◽  
Barriers And Opportunities ◽  
Feasible Solutions ◽  
Common Barriers

The circular economy in the construction sector in emerging economies is one of the most promising concepts that aims to keep the value of the construction materials and structures as long as possible. The construction industry is rapidly developing in Kazakhstan with a yearly increase in projects. This research paper investigates the construction sector in Kazakhstan in terms of the potential application of circular economy principles by local stakeholders—clients, contractors, designers, and manufacturers. As limited research has been conducted on the circularity within the construction environment, including construction parties, this paper aims to fill this research gap. It seeks to identify the construction trends and perform a barrier and opportunity analysis to develop circular economy principles in the construction sector. As a research method, PEST is used for the study of local construction trends. At the same time, stakeholders are interviewed using semi-structured surveys organized according to the ReSOLVE framework (regenerate, share, optimize, loop, virtualize, and exchange) to identify the barriers and opportunities for circular economy in the construction sector. As an outcome of this study, the most common barriers and opportunities were associated with the economic benefit factor, as this was the main motivation for the stakeholders to save construction materials for reuse or to refuse more eco-friendly technologies. Additionally, policy recommendations for companies involved in the construction ecosystem were provided according to the assessment of found barriers and opportunities in the context of the ReSOLVE framework. This analysis has shown that for most stakeholders of the Kazakhstani construction sector, virtualization is of the highest priority; therefore, opportunities for its development are recommended. Future research could focus on the development of economically feasible solutions for the circular economy in construction with the inclusion of virtualization technologies.

scholarly journals Component-Based Model for Building Material Stock and Waste-Flow Characterization: A Case in the Île-de-France Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13159
Author(s):  
Rafaela Tirado ◽  
Adélaïde Aublet ◽  
Sylvain Laurenceau ◽  
Mathieu Thorel ◽  
Mathilde Louërat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
National Level ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Analytical Techniques ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Demolition Waste ◽  
Flux Model ◽  
Waste Flow

Building demolition is one of the main sources of waste generation in urban areas and is a growing problem for cities due to the generated environmental impacts. To promote high levels of circular economy, it is necessary to better understand the waste-flow composition; nevertheless, material flow studies typically focus on low levels of detail. This article presents a model based on a bottom-up macro-component approach, which allows the multiscale characterization of construction materials and the estimation of demolition waste flows, a model that we call the BTP-flux model. Data mining, analytical techniques, and geographic information system (GIS) tools were used to assess different datasets available at the national level and develop a common database for French buildings: BDNB. Generic information for buildings in the BDNB is then enriched by coupling every building with a catalog of macro-components (TyPy), thus allowing the building’s physical description. Subsequently, stock and demolition flows are calculated by aggregation and classified into 32 waste categories. The BTP-flux model was applied in Île-de-France in a sample of 101,320 buildings for residential and non-residential uses, representative of the assessed population (1,968,242 buildings). In the case of Île-de-France, the building stock and the total demolition flows were estimated at 1382 Mt and 4065 kt, respectively. For its inter-regional areas—departments—, stock and demolition waste can vary between 85 and 138 tons/cap and 0.263 and 0.486 tons/cap/year, respectively. The mean of the total demolition wastes was estimated at 0.33 tons/cap/year for the region. Results could encourage scientists, planners, and stakeholders to develop pathways towards a circular economy in the construction sector by implementing strategies for better management of waste recovery and reintegrating in economic circuits, while preserving a maximum of their added value.

Problem of energy efficiency in the model of sustainable development in Ukraine: EU experience

2019 ◽  
pp. 18-23
Author(s):  
Vasyl Zelenko ◽  
Yaryna Ferenchak ◽  
Nataliya Zelenko
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Efficiency Measures ◽  
Efficient Construction

The paper outlines major preconditions of development of energy efficiency programs and the process of their introduction from the perspective of sustainable development concept. Energy saving measures of European Union are examined, its experience and results, like green books and Thermie programs, etc are analyzed. The paper also specifies relevant activities and responsibilities undertaken by Member States by 2030 and the rates planned to be achieved. The experience of neighboring Poland in energy efficiency promotion is analyzed, as far as the country most closely resembles Ukraine by the initial rates in 1990. We calculated conditional losses of Ukraine in 2017 as the gap between the rates of energy efficiency of Ukraine and Poland (similarity of climate conditions and the state of housing funds allowed us to assume that the comparison will be the most correct regarding Ukraine). The results of calculations make us conclude that the funds are used most efficiently if the money designated, for example, for subsidizing of population are directed at strengthening of energy efficiency (at least up to the level of neighboring country). It will result in saving of about 40 billion. This is the amount defined as Ukrainian capacity in terms of improvement of energy saving and possible results of its realization. The paper determines the stage Ukraine is at in introduction of energy efficiency measures and programs: “warm loans” program; conditions regarding energy saving in Ukraine enshrined in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement; creation of legal basis, namely the Law of Ukraine “On Energy Efficiency Fund” as of 8 June 2017. The role of newly created Energy Efficiency Fund is analyzed. Special attention is paid to the fact that energy efficient construction is one of international liabilities undertaken by Ukraine. The presence of The Active House Alliance at Ukrainian market is an important achievement in this sphere as it is the non-profit association aiming at creation of housing concept corresponding to the sustainable development principles.

scholarly journals Impact of Migrant Workers on Total Factor Productivity in Chinese Construction Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gui Ye ◽  
Yuhe Wang ◽  
Yuxin Zhang ◽  
Liming Wang ◽  
Houli Xie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Total Factor Productivity ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Factor Productivity ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Statistical Yearbook ◽  
The Impact

Total factor productivity (TFP) is of critical importance to the sustainable development of construction industry. This paper presents an analysis on the impact of migrant workers on TFP in Chinese construction sector. Interestingly, Solow Residual Approach is applied to conduct the analysis through comparing two scenarios, namely the scenario without considering migrant workers (Scenario A) and the scenario with including migrant workers (Scenario B). The data are collected from the China Statistical Yearbook on Construction and Chinese Annual Report on Migrant Workers for the period of 2008–2015. The results indicate that migrant workers have a significant impact on TFP, during the surveyed period they improved TFP by 10.42% in total and promoted the annual average TFP growth by 0.96%. Hence, it can be seen that the impact of migrant workers on TFP is very significant, whilst the main reason for such impact is believed to be the improvement of migrant workers’ quality obtained mainly throughout learning by doing.

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

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Sparrevik ◽  
Luitzen de Boer ◽  
Ottar Michelsen ◽  
Christofer Skaar ◽  
Haley Knudson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Recursive Structure ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Environmental Effectiveness ◽  
Standards And Regulations ◽  
Management Schemes ◽  
Different Levels

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

scholarly journals Strengthening Efforts to Protect and Safeguard the Industrial Cultural Heritage in Montilla-Moriles (PDO). Characterisation of Historic Wineries

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5791
Author(s):  
Antonia Merino-Aranda ◽  
Isabel Luisa Castillejo-González ◽  
Almudena Velo-Gala ◽  
Francisco de Paula Montes-Tubío ◽  
Francisco-Javier Mesas-Carrascosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Wine Industry ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Human Society ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Industrial Heritage ◽  
Wine Making ◽  
Protected Designation Of Origin ◽  
Development Goals

Industrial heritage is linked to the cultural processes that human society sets through the traces from the past. The conservation and dissemination of this industrial–cultural heritage are crucial for sustainable urban development, and positively influences the transition to resilient and sustainable cities. The wine industry around Montilla has suffered as a result of a sharp reduction of the vineyard area in the last 25 years. Wineries, as one of the historic typologies of wine-making facilities in the Montilla-Moriles Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), as well as their materials and construction techniques, are a reference in the agricultural landscape of Montilla. Many historic wineries are the result of the abandonment and cessation of the wine industry. These buildings are linked to the agrarian activity in this area, mostly wine-making, although in some cases, they coexist with similar production processes, such as milling the fruit of the olive grove. This research characterises and analyses four historic wineries in the Montilla-Moriles PDO, which represent an example of architecture in the wine-making transformation during the 19th–20th centuries. This manuscript contributes to the attainment of some objectives set in one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), protecting and disseminating the industrial cultural heritage in Montilla-Moriles.

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