Life-Cycle Assessment of a Rural Terraced House: A Struggle with Sustainability of Building Renovations
Contemporary research stresses the need to reduce mankind’s environmental impacts and achieve sustainability. One of the keys to this is the construction sector. New buildings have to comply with strict limits regarding resource consumption (energy, water use, etc.). However, they make up only a fra...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Energies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2472 |
| _version_ | 1797536227279241216 |
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| author | Karel Struhala Milan Ostrý |
| author_facet | Karel Struhala Milan Ostrý |
| author_sort | Karel Struhala |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Contemporary research stresses the need to reduce mankind’s environmental impacts and achieve sustainability. One of the keys to this is the construction sector. New buildings have to comply with strict limits regarding resource consumption (energy, water use, etc.). However, they make up only a fraction of the existing building stock. Renovations of existing buildings are therefore essential for the reduction of the environmental impacts in the construction sector. This paper illustrates the situation using a case study of a rural terraced house in a village near Brno, Czech Republic. It compares the life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the original house and its proposed renovation as well as demolition followed by new construction. The LCA covers both the initial embodied environmental impacts (EEIs) and the 60-year operation of the house with several variants of energy sources. The results show that the proposed renovation would reduce overall environmental impacts (OEIs) of the house by up to 90% and the demolition and new construction by up to 93% depending on the selected energy sources. As such, the results confirm the importance of renovations and the installation of environmentally-friendly energy sources for achieving sustainability in the construction sector. They also show the desirability of the replacement of inefficient old buildings by new construction in specific cases. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:56:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-18585158f27a4b22951c78cd90754bda |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:56:41Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-18585158f27a4b22951c78cd90754bda2023-11-21T17:12:12ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732021-04-01149247210.3390/en14092472Life-Cycle Assessment of a Rural Terraced House: A Struggle with Sustainability of Building RenovationsKarel Struhala0Milan Ostrý1Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Veveří 331/95, 602 00 Brno, Czech RepublicFaculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Veveří 331/95, 602 00 Brno, Czech RepublicContemporary research stresses the need to reduce mankind’s environmental impacts and achieve sustainability. One of the keys to this is the construction sector. New buildings have to comply with strict limits regarding resource consumption (energy, water use, etc.). However, they make up only a fraction of the existing building stock. Renovations of existing buildings are therefore essential for the reduction of the environmental impacts in the construction sector. This paper illustrates the situation using a case study of a rural terraced house in a village near Brno, Czech Republic. It compares the life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the original house and its proposed renovation as well as demolition followed by new construction. The LCA covers both the initial embodied environmental impacts (EEIs) and the 60-year operation of the house with several variants of energy sources. The results show that the proposed renovation would reduce overall environmental impacts (OEIs) of the house by up to 90% and the demolition and new construction by up to 93% depending on the selected energy sources. As such, the results confirm the importance of renovations and the installation of environmentally-friendly energy sources for achieving sustainability in the construction sector. They also show the desirability of the replacement of inefficient old buildings by new construction in specific cases.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2472building renovationenvironmental impactsenergy efficiency, energy sourceslife-cycle assessmentsustainable construction |
| spellingShingle | Karel Struhala Milan Ostrý Life-Cycle Assessment of a Rural Terraced House: A Struggle with Sustainability of Building Renovations Energies building renovation environmental impacts energy efficiency, energy sources life-cycle assessment sustainable construction |
| title | Life-Cycle Assessment of a Rural Terraced House: A Struggle with Sustainability of Building Renovations |
| title_full | Life-Cycle Assessment of a Rural Terraced House: A Struggle with Sustainability of Building Renovations |
| title_fullStr | Life-Cycle Assessment of a Rural Terraced House: A Struggle with Sustainability of Building Renovations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life-Cycle Assessment of a Rural Terraced House: A Struggle with Sustainability of Building Renovations |
| title_short | Life-Cycle Assessment of a Rural Terraced House: A Struggle with Sustainability of Building Renovations |
| title_sort | life cycle assessment of a rural terraced house a struggle with sustainability of building renovations |
| topic | building renovation environmental impacts energy efficiency, energy sources life-cycle assessment sustainable construction |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/9/2472 |
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