Methodology to assess the circularity in building construction and refurbishment activities

Area of Science:

• Circular Economy
• Sustainable Construction
• Life Cycle Assessment

Background:

• Building construction is resource-intensive.
• Current practices often lack circularity.
• Assessing circularity comprehensively is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel methodology for assessing circularity in building construction and renovation.
• To evaluate energy, water, materials, social, and economic aspects throughout the life cycle.
• To develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for circularity measurement.

Main Methods:

• Developed a life cycle perspective methodology.
• Incorporated quantitative and qualitative metrics for energy, water, and materials.
• Combined circular flow ratios with social and economic value measures.
• Tested the methodology on an External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) renovation with solar PV.

Main Results:

• Current building envelope solutions, including ETICS and PV systems, show limited circularity.
• Achieved 51% Energy Circularity, but only 29% Material Circularity and 21% Social Circularity.
• Identified long economic payback periods exceeding 20 years.
• Demonstrated significant differences in circularity performance across materials, energy, water, social value, and life cycle cost.

Conclusions:

• The proposed methodology effectively measures circularity in building projects.
• Existing construction and renovation practices are far from achieving full circularity.
• There is substantial potential for improving circularity in the building sector across various aspects.