Circular economy and Life cycle assessment of building materials: Glimåkra eco-village

Abstract

The building industry is continuously adapting to the changing needs and demands. The rise in emissions, depletion of resources and accumulating waste are some of the important problems that have to be addressed by architects all over the world today. In this context, the thesis addresses these problems through informed building material choices and exploring the potential of circular use of resources.

The main objective of this study is the architectural design for an eco-village in Glimåkra, Skåne, Sweden with a focus on developing a method for assessment of new and reused building materials. It also attempts to apply the principles of circular economy to building construction and to document the benefits of circular use of resources on the environment. It also looks into the economic feasibility of such measures.

The environmental impact of the materials was studied in three stages. First, the life-cycle impact of various new materials was compared for each component like insulation, structure, cladding to determine the material with the lowest impact. Second, the overall impact of each component was compared with other components. The components with the highest impact were replaced with reused materials or lower-impact material or construction. Third, the annual overall impact of the building was compared with the annual carrying capacity of the earth for a single-family home.

The results of the study show that wood-based materials and hempcrete had the lowest environmental impact while new PVC windows, concrete and EPS had the highest impact. It was also observed that transportation of materials led to high global warming potential. The study also shows the environmental benefits of reusing materials. Reusing materials can reduce Carbon dioxide emissions to a great extent. However, it is not yet economically feasible to do so.

Popular Abstract

Materials & Circularity

The building industry is continuously adapting to the changing needs and demands of the users and the environment. The rise in emissions, depletion of resources and accumulation of waste are some of the important problems that have to be addressed by architects all over the world today. Lower operating energy demand in newly constructed buildings and resource constraints have led to a shift in the focus from not only reducing operational energy but to also considering the embodied energy of building materials. In this context, the thesis addresses these problems by exploring the potential of circular use of resources and making informed building material choices.
The main objective of this study is the architectural design for an eco-village in Glimåkra, Skåne, Sweden with a focus on the life cycle assessment of new and reused building materials. The ecovillage in Glimåkra is a proposal for six two-storey single-family houses and four one-storey houses for the elderly. The study attempts to apply the principles of circular economy; like adaptability, building in layers and circular use of materials to the proposed architectural design and construction and to document the benefits of circular use of resources on the environment. It also looks into the economic feasibility of such measures.
The site plan was developed after taking into consideration the context and the ideal orientation for the buildings based on solar radiation simulations to maximize the solar radiation on the roof and open decks. The architectural design focuses on meeting the client’s space requirements, increasing passive solar gains, creating an unobstructed flow and flexibility.
The design focuses on the adaptability of the interior spaces, allowing users to change the function or create different spaces through a minimal shift or removal of partitions. The proposed construction takes into consideration the varying life spans of different components in a building and the need for easy disassembly.
The life-cycle assessment of the environmental impact of the materials and the building is conducted in two stages:
(i) Life cycle assessment of different materials for each component such as insulation, cladding, windows; to determine the material with the lowest impact.
(ii) Summation of the impact of all the components to calculate the total impact of the building. At this stage, the impact of different components is compared. The components with the highest share in the impact are replaced with a different material or reused materials to lower the impact.
For a complete life-cycle assessment of a building, the thesis proposes comparing the annual overall impact of the building with the annual carrying capacity of the earth for a single-family home. However, in this case, since a complete LCA was not performed, it was not possible to complete this analysis.
The results of the study show that wood-based materials and hempcrete have the lowest environmental impact while new PVC windows, concrete and EPS have the highest environmental impact.
The study also demonstrates the environmental benefits of reusing materials. Reusing materials like windows, clay roof tiles led to a 60% reduction in global warming potential and a 33% reduction in the overall environmental impact of building materials in this case study. However, the study also indicates that it is not yet cost-effective to reuse building materials.

• author: Gandhi, Zahabia
• supervisor: Marie-Claude Dubois; Jouri Kanters
• organization: Division of Energy and Building Design; Department of Architecture and Built Environment
• alternative title: Materials & Circularity
• course: AEBM01 20201
• year: 2020
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: Circular Economy, Life cycle assessment, Environmental impact of building materials, Reusing materials
• language: English
• id: 9016782
• date added to LUP: 2020-06-16 12:39:39
• date last changed: 2020-06-16 12:39:39