Environmental consequences of refurbishment vs. demolition and reconstruction: a comparative life cycle assessment of an Italian case study

SBE19 - Resilient Built Environment for Sustainable Mediterranean Countries

生态环境科学;政治学社会学

Pittau, F.^1 ; Amato, C.^2 ; Cuffari, S.^2 ; Iannaccone, G.^3 ; Malighetti, L.E.^3

ETH Zürich, Institut für Bau-und Infrastrukturmanagement, Department of Sustainable Construction, Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5, Zürich.

8093, Switzerland^1

Politecnico di Milano, School of Architecture, Urban Planning and Construction Engineering (AUIC), Via Golgi 42, Milan

20133, Italy^2

Politecnico di Milano, Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (ABC), Via G. Ponzio 31, Milan

20133, Italy^3

关键词: Building construction;    Comparative life cycle assessment;    Construction systems;    Environmental consequences;    Global warming potential;    Greenhouse gases emissions;    Life Cycle Assessment (LCA);    Materials production;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/296/1/012037/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1755-1315/296/1/012037

学科分类：环境科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

In the building sector, the new standards for energy efficiency are reducing the energy consumption and the carbon emissions for building operation to nearly zero. As a result, the greenhouse gases emissions and related environmental impacts from materials production, and especially insulation, are becoming dominant. In the next future, most of building stock is expected to be refurbished and a great amount of construction materials will be consequently required. A relevant share of waste is generated from building construction and demolition and limiting the volume is a priority of the EU community. In this work the renovation of industrial buildings in a dismissed area located in Lecco, Italy, was considered as case study. Five alternative construction systems for renovating the building envelopes were assumed, and a life cycle assessment (LCA) adopted in order to measure the environmental impact of each alternative. The results where compared with a scenario which includes demolition and reconstruction of a similar building with the same net volume and thermal resistance. The results showed that timber and concrete are the most valuable materials to rebuild the structures in case of demolition, contrarily to steel which leads generally to higher environmental impacts, except land use. Refurbishment scenarios generally account for a lower global warming potential (GWP) even if demolition, waste treatment and benefit from recycling/reuse are taken into account.