Resource Efficiency in the Construction Sector: Material Intensities of Residential Buildings—A German Case Study

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 intensitie...

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Main Authors: Karina Krause, Annette Hafner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-08-01
Series:Energies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/16/5825
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author Karina Krause
Annette Hafner
author_facet Karina Krause
Annette Hafner
author_sort Karina Krause
collection DOAJ
description 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<sup>2</sup>) of gross floor area (GFA) or the cubic meters (m<sup>3</sup>) 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<sup>2</sup> GFA to 1.95 t/m<sup>2</sup> GFA for single-family residential buildings and from 1.36 t/m<sup>2</sup> GFA to 1.54 t/m<sup>2</sup> 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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spelling doaj.art-1987d6eef64e4abfbfe815325e2a10a82023-11-30T21:17:46ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732022-08-011516582510.3390/en15165825Resource Efficiency in the Construction Sector: Material Intensities of Residential Buildings—A German Case StudyKarina Krause0Annette Hafner1Resource Efficient Building, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, IC 5/161—Universitätsstr. 150, 44801 Bochum, GermanyResource Efficient Building, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, IC 5/161—Universitätsstr. 150, 44801 Bochum, GermanyThis 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<sup>2</sup>) of gross floor area (GFA) or the cubic meters (m<sup>3</sup>) 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<sup>2</sup> GFA to 1.95 t/m<sup>2</sup> GFA for single-family residential buildings and from 1.36 t/m<sup>2</sup> GFA to 1.54 t/m<sup>2</sup> 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.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/16/5825material intensityLCAresource efficiencymaterial flowsbuilding construction
spellingShingle Karina Krause
Annette Hafner
Resource Efficiency in the Construction Sector: Material Intensities of Residential Buildings—A German Case Study
Energies
material intensity
LCA
resource efficiency
material flows
building construction
title Resource Efficiency in the Construction Sector: Material Intensities of Residential Buildings—A German Case Study
title_full Resource Efficiency in the Construction Sector: Material Intensities of Residential Buildings—A German Case Study
title_fullStr Resource Efficiency in the Construction Sector: Material Intensities of Residential Buildings—A German Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Resource Efficiency in the Construction Sector: Material Intensities of Residential Buildings—A German Case Study
title_short Resource Efficiency in the Construction Sector: Material Intensities of Residential Buildings—A German Case Study
title_sort resource efficiency in the construction sector material intensities of residential buildings a german case study
topic material intensity
LCA
resource efficiency
material flows
building construction
url https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/16/5825
work_keys_str_mv AT karinakrause resourceefficiencyintheconstructionsectormaterialintensitiesofresidentialbuildingsagermancasestudy
AT annettehafner resourceefficiencyintheconstructionsectormaterialintensitiesofresidentialbuildingsagermancasestudy