An Inspection of the Life Cycle of Sustainable Construction Projects: Towards a Biomimicry-Based Road Map Integrating Circular Economy

Abstract

According to the National Energy Plan in Panama, the construction sector is one of the most prosperous and impactful sectors in the economy and it is expected to expand due to population growth by almost 300% by 2050. However, this sector must work on the transition towards sustainability and resilience in the face of climate change, since its growth implies a high consumption of resources and the contribution of greenhouse gases. The need to establish practices and strategies that embrace the dimension of sustainability and a circular economy is imminent. Currently, there is little guidance in the reference framework beyond certifications in planning, management and evaluation tools for its implementation. Different studies vary in the number of phases and considerations for projects. Therefore, the present work proposes the development of a unified road map, with defined phases, practices and indicators based on principles inspired by nature, such as biomimicry (Greek words: “bio” means life and “mimesis”, imitation), and focuses on a circular economy, validated by construction professionals, where strengths, opportunities, skills and threats are identified with a high level of acceptance. This contributes to strengthening the field of sustainable construction project management and a precedent for Panama.

Including Nature-Based Success Measurement Criteria in the Life Cycle Assessment

“…Moreover, the cradle-to-cradle life cycle approach is aligned with circular economy objectives. For a building, it is the process of carrying out the construction and the building itself [40]. Briefly, this would be divided into four phases [41,42]: product, construction, use, and end of life, but a more detailed approach it can be given in the product and use phase [40].…”

“…• Product: related to the initiation and design for construction [40], it considers the materials and their supply, the manufacturing behind, and the management services, where transportation is included [41,42]. Its main quantitative factors are the coal included in extraction, manufacture, diligence, and disposal of materials, the inputs in relation to energy and water, and the waste outputs [43].…”

“…• Construction: execution of construction (transport, construction itself, and installation) [41] and implementation of the necessary measures to mitigate negative impacts [40]. At this stage, the inputs are water and energy, which generally has a significant waste impact [43].…”

“…Although a design phase is not included in the literature in terms of inputs and outputs, it has been placed by the relevance of the planning strategy, concept, and technical design [42]. It allows maximizing results, evaluation of costs, benefits, and combination of designs [40], providing greater inclusion of practices in the process, advancing more toward efficiency than only mitigating impacts. This is why beyond including a social and economic life cycle [44], to complement a focus on sustainable totality, the limits of improvement toward efficiency, innovation, decision, and compliance with circular economy must be addressed, where the inspiration in nature can provide opportunities.…”

Energy Storage System based on Biomimetic Strategies: Concept Design and Performance Assessment in Buildings

“…Concrete applications implementing this approach can be found in the literature. For instance, a simple application such as the search for temperature regulation at urban scale based on the Saharan ant and Zebra [7], while more complex applications such as to define regenerative design indicators to evaluate cities ecosystem services based on a vast number of pinnacles [8], and the identification of a bio-inspired model to integrate circular economy to unify the sustainable construction project definition, based on pinnacles for the three sustainability pillars (social behavior of macaques, survival skills of tardigrades, and the symbiosis process) [9]. In contrast, the solution-based approach is based on finding descriptions of biological phenomena that are used to develop solutions to a simple problem [10].…”