RASMI: Global ranges of building material intensities differentiated by region, structure, and function.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Materials Science
• Sustainable Development

Background:

• Construction materials significantly impact global material flows and emissions.
• Material Intensity (MI) is crucial for assessing building resource use and environmental performance.
• Existing MI data is often inconsistent, incomparable, and limited, particularly for the Global South.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address data gaps by developing a comprehensive and consistent dataset of building Material Intensities.
• To introduce the Regional Assessment of buildings' Material Intensities (RASMI) dataset and methodology.
• To provide representative MI value ranges that capture building variability globally.

Main Methods:

• Developed the RASMI dataset encompassing 3072 MI ranges.
• Included 8 construction materials, 12 building types, and 32 global regions.
• Employed a reproducible, traceable, and updatable methodology, utilizing synthetic data where necessary.

Main Results:

• Created a global dataset of building Material Intensity ranges.
• The RASMI dataset covers diverse building types, materials, and regions worldwide.
• The dataset is designed for reproducibility and future updates.

Conclusions:

• RASMI offers a standardized approach to estimating building material flows and emissions.
• The dataset supports assessments of demolition waste, at-risk material stocks, and urban mining potential.
• This work is critical for achieving global climate commitments through improved building material management.