Land availability in Europe for a radical shift toward bio-based construction

Göswein, Verena; Reichmann, Jana; Habert, Guillaume; Pittau, Francesco

doi:10.1016/j.scs.2021.102929

Cited by 51 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…The values in bold blue font highlight high demand from the building stock and high supply of biomass. For example, a previous study by the authors [31] found that the available straw in the EU-28 countries (roughly referring to EEU and WEU geoclusters) provides more than enough material. In fact, only 12% of the currently available straw for construction (referring to already used straw in construction and "leftover" straw that is currently not used by any sector) would be needed to meet the material demand for current renovation rates in the EU-28 (circa 1% yearly).…”

Section: Matching Supply and Demandmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Wood in buildings: the right answer to the wrong question

Göswein

Arehart

Pittau

et al. 2022

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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Reducing the embodied emissions of materials for new construction and renovation of buildings is a key challenge for climate change mitigation around the world. However, as simply reducing emissions is not sufficient to meet the climate targets, using bio-based materials seems the only feasible choice as it permits carbon storage in buildings. Various studies have shown that bio-based materials allow turning overall life cycle impacts negative, therefore, having a cooling effect on the climate. In recent years, scholars and policy makers have focused almost exclusively on the advancement of wooden buildings. Timber structures stand out as they can be prefabricated and used for high-rise buildings. Yet, one important aspect seems to be overlooked: the consideration of supply and demand. Large forest areas that allow sustainable sourcing of woody biomass only exist in the Northern hemisphere, notably in North America and Europe. In these regions, though, urbanization rates are mostly stagnating, meaning new construction rates are low. The largest amount of material requirements in these regions are derived from the refurbishment of the existing stock. Moreover, in areas where structural material is needed for new construction, in Asia, Africa and South America, rain forests need to be protected. Therefore, we need to rethink the desire to find one solution and carelessly implement it everywhere. Instead, we need to consider locally available material and know-how for grounded material choices. This paper explores the supply of a range of bio-based materials and matches it against the material demand of global building stocks. It is based on various previous studies by the authors, of South Africa, China, Portugal, and more. The analysis divides between structural materials for new construction, such as wood and bamboo, and thermal insulation materials for the refurbishment of existing buildings, such as straw and hemp. The results emphasize the need for diversifying bio-based material solutions.

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Section: Matching Supply and Demandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While at the European level, ICB could only meet 2% of the building stock demand, however, locally in Portugal the supply exceeds the demand 10-fold. For more information, please refer to a previous study by the authors [31].…”

Section: Insulation Cork Board (Icb) In Portugalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wood in buildings: the right answer to the wrong question

Göswein

Arehart

Pittau

et al. 2022

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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“…Coupling LCA with material flow analysis (MFA) models is a consolidated approach in literature which allows building future scenarios and predict their environmental consequences and pressure on natural resources at a regional scale (Göswein et al 2021). However, often the completeness in scope of regional LCA and combined LCA-MFA fails in simplifications and increasing uncertainties (Pittau et al 2019).…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessment and Regionalization Of Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Metabolism: Definition of an Integrated Framework to Assess and Plan Cities and Territories

Assumma

Pittau

2022

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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The present paper deals with the role of sustainability assessment tools in tackling the increasing complexity and uncertainty of urban and territorial systems. Urban metabolism is ever more under the attention of Decision Makers and policy makers to deal with the current planning challenges, where climate change, environmental quality, social equity and justice, and governance represent very topical issues.The paper focuses particularly on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the family of Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) retained as suitable tools to design an integrated framework to envision sustainable, resilient and circular solutions with a multi-scaling approach, ranging from the product to the city and territory levels. This contribution represents a position paper of the authors which defines an integrated framework to explore urban metabolism and support real assessment and planning procedures for cities and territories transformations. This research work is addressed to planners, Decision Makers, technicians and freelances actively involved in planning and assessment procedures for ensuring a better quality of life.

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“…The use of wood and timber products is gaining increased interest from actors around the building and construction value chain [14,15]. Wood and timber products are seen as sustainable materials to use, because of their renewability (if forests are managed sustainably) and their low degree of energy-intensive processing in the manufacturing step [16,17]. Further, the ability to store biogenic carbon, thus postponing the release of biogenic CO 2 to the atmosphere, is considered an important trait of wood and woodbased products [18,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Product Declarations of Structural Wood: A Review of Impacts and Potential Pitfalls for Practice

et al. 2021

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The use of wood and timber products in the construction of buildings is repeatedly pointed towards as a mean for lowering the environmental footprint. With several countries preparing regulation for life cycle assessment of buildings, practitioners from industry will presumably look to the pool of data on wood products found in environmental product declarations (EPDs). However, the EPDs may vary broadly in terms of reporting and results. This study provides a comprehensive review of 81 third-party verified EN 15804 EPDs of cross laminated timber (CLT), glulam, laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and timber. The 81 EPDs represent 86 different products and 152 different product scenarios. The EPDs mainly represent European production, but also North America and Australia/New Zealand productions are represented. Reported global warming potential (GWP) from the EPDs vary within each of the investigated product categories, due to density of the products and the end-of-life scenarios applied. Median results per kg of product, excluding the biogenic CO2, are found at 0.26, 0.24, and 0.17 kg CO2e for CLT, glulam, and timber, respectively. Results further showed that the correlation between GWP and other impact categories is limited. Analysis of the inherent data uncertainty showed to add up to ±41% to reported impacts when assessed with an uncertainty method from the literature. However, in some of the average EPDs, even larger uncertainties of up to 90% for GWP are reported. Life cycle assessment practitioners can use the median values from this study as generic data in their assessments of buildings. To make the EPDs easier to use for practitioners, a more detailed coordination between EPD programs and their product category rules is recommended, as well as digitalization of EPD data.

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Land availability in Europe for a radical shift toward bio-based construction

Cited by 51 publications

References 81 publications

Wood in buildings: the right answer to the wrong question

Wood in buildings: the right answer to the wrong question

Urban Metabolism: Definition of an Integrated Framework to Assess and Plan Cities and Territories

Environmental Product Declarations of Structural Wood: A Review of Impacts and Potential Pitfalls for Practice

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