An Evaluation of the Environmental Impact of Circular Facade Systems
(2025) AEBM01 20241Division of Energy and Building Design
- Abstract
- With increasing environmental awareness, building materials and their impact on the environment are increasingly coming into focus. This study presents a framework for comparing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) through A1 - A5 stages from the perspective of Global Warming Potential (GWP) to assess the climate change potential of three facade systems of different building types (villas, medium-sized buildings, and multi-family buildings), based in Malmö, Sweden.
The assessment mainly focused on assessing the climate change potential of the three facade systems. The circular facade systems (CFS), including one facade system utilizing conventional materials with bio-based material insulation and another composed entirely of bio-based materials.... (More) - With increasing environmental awareness, building materials and their impact on the environment are increasingly coming into focus. This study presents a framework for comparing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) through A1 - A5 stages from the perspective of Global Warming Potential (GWP) to assess the climate change potential of three facade systems of different building types (villas, medium-sized buildings, and multi-family buildings), based in Malmö, Sweden.
The assessment mainly focused on assessing the climate change potential of the three facade systems. The circular facade systems (CFS), including one facade system utilizing conventional materials with bio-based material insulation and another composed entirely of bio-based materials. These facade systems were compared against a conventional materials facade system by evaluating the GWP of bio-based materials versus conventional materials used in their exterior walls. In addition, this study also investigated how the transportation distance between the material’s production site and the construction site affects the material’s GWP A4 stage.
Meanwhile, the study explored the heating energy demand and thermal performance across the different type of buildings characterized by the three facade systems, to evaluate the potential impact that CFS could have on the thermal performance of buildings.
The results of the study showed that among the three facade systems evaluated, the CFS (the conventional materials but with bio-based material insulation facade system, and the fully bio-based materials facade system) containing one or more bio-based building materials have lower GWP than the conventional materials facade system across the A1 - A5 stages. In terms of climate change potential, the CFS has lower environmental impact. Furthermore, energy simulation and evaluation indicated that incorporating bio-based materials into facade systems has the potential to reduce building indoor temperature fluctuations.
This study highlighted the positive impact of circular facade systems and provided valuable information on material selection and environmental sustainability design practices. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- With growing environmental awareness, the environmental impact of building materials is increasingly coming into focus. A key feature of the Circular Facade System (CFS) is its ability to accommodate various materials. This study provides a framework for comparing Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) across the A1–A5 stages from the perspective of Global Warming Potential (GWP) to evaluate the climate change potential of three facade systems applied to different building types (villas, medium-sized buildings, and multi-family buildings) in Malmö, Sweden.
The study examined two CFS: one using conventional materials with bio-based material insulation and another composed entirely of bio-based materials. These were compared to a conventional... (More) - With growing environmental awareness, the environmental impact of building materials is increasingly coming into focus. A key feature of the Circular Facade System (CFS) is its ability to accommodate various materials. This study provides a framework for comparing Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) across the A1–A5 stages from the perspective of Global Warming Potential (GWP) to evaluate the climate change potential of three facade systems applied to different building types (villas, medium-sized buildings, and multi-family buildings) in Malmö, Sweden.
The study examined two CFS: one using conventional materials with bio-based material insulation and another composed entirely of bio-based materials. These were compared to a conventional materials facade system by analyzing the GWP of bio-based materials versus conventional materials in the exterior walls. Additionally, the study investigated the effect of transportation distance between the material production site and construction site on the material's GWP during the A4 stage. Furthermore, the study explored heating energy demand and thermal performance for the various building types characterized by the three facade systems, assessing the potential impact of bio-based materials on the thermal performance of buildings.
The results indicated that, among the three evaluated facade systems, CFS incorporating one or more bio-based building materials (the conventional materials but with bio-based material insulation facade system, and the fully bio-based materials facade system) exhibited lower GWP compared to the conventional materials facade system across stages A1–A5. Without taking into account the biogenic carbon of the bio-based materials, the GWP of the conventional materials facade system was reduced by 4.6% and 79%, respectively, when replaced with the two CFS options. In terms of climate change potential, the CFS has lower environmental impact. Furthermore, energy simulation results indicated that incorporating bio-based materials into facade systems has the potential to reduce building indoor temperature fluctuations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9187338
- author
- Zhao, Dongqi LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- AEBM01 20241
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Circular facade system(CFS), Life Cycle Assessment(LCA), Global Warming Potential(GWP), Bio-based materials
- language
- English
- id
- 9187338
- date added to LUP
- 2025-04-02 13:43:17
- date last changed
- 2025-04-02 13:43:17
@misc{9187338,
abstract = {{With increasing environmental awareness, building materials and their impact on the environment are increasingly coming into focus. This study presents a framework for comparing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) through A1 - A5 stages from the perspective of Global Warming Potential (GWP) to assess the climate change potential of three facade systems of different building types (villas, medium-sized buildings, and multi-family buildings), based in Malmö, Sweden.
The assessment mainly focused on assessing the climate change potential of the three facade systems. The circular facade systems (CFS), including one facade system utilizing conventional materials with bio-based material insulation and another composed entirely of bio-based materials. These facade systems were compared against a conventional materials facade system by evaluating the GWP of bio-based materials versus conventional materials used in their exterior walls. In addition, this study also investigated how the transportation distance between the material’s production site and the construction site affects the material’s GWP A4 stage.
Meanwhile, the study explored the heating energy demand and thermal performance across the different type of buildings characterized by the three facade systems, to evaluate the potential impact that CFS could have on the thermal performance of buildings.
The results of the study showed that among the three facade systems evaluated, the CFS (the conventional materials but with bio-based material insulation facade system, and the fully bio-based materials facade system) containing one or more bio-based building materials have lower GWP than the conventional materials facade system across the A1 - A5 stages. In terms of climate change potential, the CFS has lower environmental impact. Furthermore, energy simulation and evaluation indicated that incorporating bio-based materials into facade systems has the potential to reduce building indoor temperature fluctuations.
This study highlighted the positive impact of circular facade systems and provided valuable information on material selection and environmental sustainability design practices.}},
author = {{Zhao, Dongqi}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{An Evaluation of the Environmental Impact of Circular Facade Systems}},
year = {{2025}},
}