Resource efficiency in the construction sector

  • This article describes an approach for comparing material intensity values for residential buildings with different construction types. Based on the working drawings of the different construction types (wood and mineral), material intensities are calculated at the building level. Material intensities describe the materials used in a building in mass (tonnes (t)) in relation to the square meters (\(m^{2}\)) of gross floor area (GFA) or the cubic meters (\(m^{3}\)) of gross volume (GV). The method for determining material intensities at the building level is demonstrated. The results show that material intensities range from 0.61 t/\(m^{2}\) GFA to 1.95 t/\(m^{2}\) GFA for single-family residential buildings and from 1.36 t/\(m^{2}\) GFA to 1.54 t/\(m^{2}\) GFA for multi-storey residential buildings. The average material intensity for mineral buildings is twice as high as that for wood buildings, which means that there is a beneficial resource efficiency in building with wood instead of mineral materials. Therefore, benchmarks for a resource efficient building can be conducted based on these values. These values demonstrate a possibility to influence resource efficiency in buildings.

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Metadaten
Author:Karina KrauseGND, Annette HafnerORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-102539
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/en15165825
Parent Title (English):Energies
Subtitle (English):material intensities of residential buildings ; a German case study
Publisher:MDPI
Place of publication:Basel, Schweiz
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2023/10/20
Date of first Publication:2022/08/11
Publishing Institution:Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek
Tag:Open Access Fonds
LCA; building construction; material flows; material intensity; resource efficiency
Volume:15
Issue:16, Article 5825
First Page:5825-1
Last Page:5825-17
Note:
Article Processing Charge funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Fund of Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
Institutes/Facilities:Lehrstuhl für Ressourceneffizientes Bauen
Dewey Decimal Classification:Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / Ingenieurbau, Umwelttechnik
open_access (DINI-Set):open_access
faculties:Fakultät für Bau- und Umweltingenieurwissenschaften
Licence (English):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY 4.0 - Attribution 4.0 International