Search Results (31)

The growth in the adoption of circular economy principles in the construction industry has given rise to material passports as a critical implementation tool. Given the existing problems of high resource use and high waste generation in the construction industry, there is a pressing need to adopt novel strategies and tools to mitigate the adverse impacts of the built environment. However, research on the application of material passports in the context of construction waste management remains limited. The aim of this paper is to identify the contextual uses, stakeholders, requirements, and challenges in the application of material passports for managing waste generated from building construction and demolition processes through a systematic review approach. Comprehensive searches in Scopus and the Web of Science databases are used to identify relevant papers and reduce the risk of selection bias. Thirty-five (35) papers are identified and included in the review. The identified key contexts of use included buildings and cities as material banks, waste management and trading, and integrated digital technologies. Asset owners, waste management operators, construction and deconstruction teams, technology providers, and regulatory and sustainability teams are identified as key stakeholders. Data requirements related to material, components, building stock data, lifecycle, environmental impact data, and deconstruction and handling data are critical. Moreover, the key infrastructure requirements include modeling and analytical tools, collaborative information exchange systems, sensory tracking tools, and digital and physical storage hubs. However, challenges with data management, costs, process standardization, technology, stakeholder collaboration, market demand, and supply chain logistics still limit the implementation. Therefore, it is recommended that future research be directed towards certification and standardization protocols, automation, artificial intelligence tools, economic viability, market trading, and innovative end-use products. Full article

Metaphors help to simplify complex concepts, making them more accessible and understandable for children. Children can build a more concrete understanding of these concepts by associating abstract financial ideas with familiar situations or objects. The present study aims to explore what children with above-average abilities understand by financial literacy, using words and images as tools of expression. During a workshop, 22 children with above-average abilities participated in two tasks, one individual and one group task. The results showed that “save” (90.9%), “money” (63.9%), “invest” (59.1%), and “bank” (54.5%) are the words most strongly associated with the concept of financial literacy among the children. Regarding images, money (M = 1.77), a clock or calendar (M = 2.50), a pig (M = 2.75), and a house (M = 2.84) were identified as the most representative symbols of financial literacy for this group of children. In the group task, children perceive financial literacy mainly as managing and using money to satisfy needs and desires. The results can inform educators about the need to adapt educational materials to match children’s level of understanding better, promoting more effective and accessible financial education. Full article

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry faces significant global challenges, including frequent project delays, budget overruns, and inadequate stakeholder collaboration. To address these issues, Value Engineering (VE) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) have been increasingly used in large-scale, complex construction projects. Although many studies highlight the benefits of integrating VE with BIM, its full practical potential has not yet been realized. This study aims to investigate the integration of VE and BIM within a Common Data Environment (CDE) to improve decision making and project outcomes. A comprehensive framework was developed, consisting of four interconnected modules: (1) Creating the CDE, (2) Developing the BIM Model, (3) Implementing Value Engineering, and (4) Conducting a Value Engineering Study. Central to this framework is the introduction of the VEIDEA” data bank, a structured system based on the OmniClass classification, which stores and organizes VE ideas. Additionally, the framework incorporates the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to automate the evaluation phase, assisting designers and VE teams in making data-driven decisions on design alternatives. Empirical results from a case study of an office building show significant cost savings, with a 20% reduction in reinforced concrete (RC) slab costs and a 39% reduction in flooring material costs. These findings demonstrate the potential for integrating VE and BIM to enhance cost-effectiveness and overall project performance. This study offers a novel approach to optimizing project collaboration, decision making, and efficiency in the AEC industry. Full article

The circular economy is one of the main strategies for mitigating the environmental impacts of civil construction due to the generation of construction and demolition waste (CDW). In this transition, evaluating alternatives for using buildings as material banks is a way to make the process of reusing construction components more efficient. Thus, the article aimed to evaluate the state of the art of publications on the relationship between the circular economy in civil construction and the conceptual model of buildings as material banks to mitigate the environmental impacts of CDW. The authors chose the methodological design of Systematic Literature Review, using the Scopus and Web of Science databases for research, with the following search strings: (“construction” or “civil construction” or “built environment” or “construction industry”) and (“circular economy” or “circular construction”) and (“material banks” or “BAMB” or “buildings as material banks” or “building stocks” or “building materials”) and (“construction waste” or “demolition waste” or “CDW” or “construction and demolition waste” or “environmental impacts”). After a screening in which only articles published in journals were selected, from 2013 to 2023, inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, to evaluate only those that had a direct relationship with CDW management through circular economy strategies and buildings such as banks of material. As a result, 93 articles remained, which were analyzed using a quantitative and qualitative approach. The predominance of applied studies was also noted through case studies that evaluate the management of materials and waste in the urban environment. The qualitative analysis, carried out using a SWOT matrix, highlighted the strengths of the buildings, such as material banks, the potential reduction of resource extraction and urban mining, and promoting the circulation of construction products. However, the recycling of waste, such as aggregates, still stands out as the main end-of-life strategy adopted, even without occupying the top of the waste hierarchy. Full article

Although the construction industry has the potential to implement circular economy (CE) principles, the sector suffers from a veritable lack of initiatives to develop circular and regenerative design principles. However, existing buildings intended to be demolished could be considered as material banks for future constructions, with the aim to exploit anthropogenic resources, extend material/product efficiency, and reduce the extraction of natural resources. This concept of buildings as material banks is being studied more and more in the scientific literature, but it still requires the existing building stock to be fully digitalized, thus making materials reusable in new buildings starting from the architectural design stage. Moreover, the decision process regarding CE strategies requires the consideration of the environmental impacts of the deconstruction and end-of-life processes, which is essential in CE implementation. This paper introduces a digital platform for generating materials inventory and supporting the definition of reuse strategies. Then, by using digital tools in combination with life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of the deconstruction process and output of materials and components inventories, a method is defined and tested on a pilot building in Luxembourg. Full article

Aluminum cladding panels have been used in some of the most iconic buildings around the world due to their durability, aesthetic appeal, and longevity. These panels play a critical role as the first line of defense against external forces such as wind and rain; therefore, the appropriateness of the design and resilience of aluminum cladding panels must be ensured. Previous researchers have conducted very minimal research on aluminum panels subjected to windborne debris impact. Their scope was limited to studying the response of panels when they are targeted at the center. The influence of various structural and load-related parameters on the response of such claddings has yet to be investigated. Furthermore, no design guidelines are readily available that engineers can use to predict the response of aluminum cladding panels when subjected to such loads considering various conditions (location of impact, projectile’s material, angle of impact, velocity of impact, unsupported length, and the geometry of the panels). The main aim of this paper was to develop some design guidelines that engineers can use to predict the response of aluminum cladding panels exposed to windborne debris impact. To achieve this, a series of parametric studies was conducted to generate a data bank. These parametric studies were performed with the help of a robust numerical model that has been validated with experimental results. The parametric sensitivity study revealed that the angle of impact was the most influential parameter, causing an 80% reduction in the peak impact force with a 50% decrease in the angle. The velocity, plate thickness, location of impact, and unsupported length also significantly influenced the panel’s response. The alloy type emerged as a dominant factor affecting the maximum and residual deflections. Regression equations were formulated based on the generated dataset to accurately predict the peak impact force, maximum central deflection, and residual deflection of solid aluminum cladding panels. The proposed prediction equations offer a better alternative to experimental testing. Full article

The frequency and severity of natural or human-induced disaster events, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, pandemics, hazardous material spills, groundwater contamination, structural failures, explosions, etc., as well as their impacts, have greatly increased in recent decades due to population growth and extensive urbanization, among other factors. The World Bank estimates that the total cost of cities’ and communities’ vulnerability to these types of disasters could reach more than USD 300 billion per year by 2030. However, it has been argued that investment to improve the quality and resilience of engineered physical assets that are the backbone of modern societies, such as critical infrastructure, industrial facilities, and buildings, could significantly contribute to more sustainable and prosperous societies. Engineered assets are key to the delivery of essential services, such as transport, food, water, electricity supply, health and safety, etc. Some of these physical assets are integrated into asset systems and national or regional networks, with life cycles of several decades or even centuries. It is, therefore, of great importance that strategies and life cycle decisions, such as those related to short- and long-term capital investment planning, maintenance strategies, operational plans, and asset disposal, lead to the maximization of the value derived from these assets. Moreover, it is essential that the achievement of these goals is sustainable over time. Organizations dealing with engineering assets, both public and private, must, therefore, integrate sustainability and resilience concerns into everyday operations, using budgets that are often restricted, while also meeting demanding performance requirements in risky and uncertain environments. This Special Issue collates a selection of papers reporting the latest research and case studies regarding the trends and emerging strategies used to address these challenges, with contributions discussing how asset management principles and techniques can help to push the boundaries of sophistication and innovation to improve the life cycle management of engineered assets to ensure more sustainable and resilient cities and societies. Full article

A single-family house was designed as a new middle-income green residential building in the Sultanate of Oman, according to criteria defined by the green building certification system EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies), developed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is a member of the World Bank Group (WBG). The design was accomplished through the free cloud-based tool of EDGE. With respect to a base design for the Sultanate of Oman, the green home design achieved savings of 40.86%, 20.22%, and 26.39% in energy, water, and materials (Embodied Energy), respectively. In addition, a saving of 35.48% in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was estimated. Based on the completed green building design, four green building-normalized metrics were used to quantify the efficiency of the base case and the design case in terms of the consumption of resources and polluting emissions. These efficiency metrics are: Carbon Emission Index (CEI), Energy Performance Index (EPI), Water Consumption Index (WCI), and Embodied Energy Index (EEI). Out of these green building performance metrics, the EPI is directly provided by EDGE, while the other three are introduced here as additional useful indicators that allow fair evaluations and comparison with other buildings, due to their less stringent dependence on the floor area or the number of occupants. Full article

Over the course of seven years during ten events, the author explored real-time interactive audiovisual projections, using ad hoc and portable projections and audio systems. This was done in the specific location of Cockatoo Island in the waters of a part of Sydney Harbour, Australia. The island offers a unique combination of the remnants of a shipyard industrial precinct, other buildings, and increasingly restored natural environment. The project explored real-time audiovisual responses through projected overlays reminiscing the rich history and past events, interactively resonating with the current landscape and built environment. This included the maritime industrial history, as well as other historical layers such as convict barracks, school, and the significance of the location for Australia’s original inhabitants before colonisation by the British started in 1788. But most prominently, the recent use of the island for large scale art projects (such as the Outpost street art festival in 2011, and over a decade of use as part of the Sydney Biennale of Art, and the use of the island for film sets). This was a rich source of image material collected by the author and used to extend and reflect on current realities. By using the projections, overlaying and extending the present reality with historical data in the form of sounds and video, dialogues were facilitated and a conflation of past and present explored. The main activity were the VideoWalks, where the author, using a custom built portable audiovisual projection system and a bank of audiovisual material was able to re-place sound and video of previous events in the present context, in some instances whilst delivering a performative lecture on the way. The explorations are part of the author’s Traces project, exploring traces and remnants of past events and how these can inform design approaches. The project over the years also developed an element of recursion, by using footage of an earlier projection into the current, the footage of which was then used in the next event, and so on—up to five layers of extended reality. Full article

Fluorocarbons are an important category of greenhouse gas emissions, and currently, their use is prohibited due to their significant contribution to the global ozone depletion potential (ODP). During this century, they will continue to emit greenhouse gases into the environment since they are present in the thermal insulation foam and HVAC systems in existing buildings; however, proper disposal of these banks of CFCs/HFCs from existing buildings can limit their effects on the environment. However, there are no studies that have investigated quantifying the achievable environmental savings in this case. In this study, a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted to evaluate, for the first time in the literature, the environmental savings achievable through the removal and disposal of CFC/HFC banks from buildings including damage-related emissions. To cope with the scarcity of data, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis techniques are applied. The results show that, for the selected archetype building, the largest annual emissions of CFCs/HFCs come from the external thermal insulation of the envelope. The removal of this material can lead to an additional significant reduction in the GWP (up to 569 kgCO₂eq/m²) and the ODP (up to 117 × 10⁻³ kgCFC-11eq/m²), i.e., higher than that achievable by reducing energy consumption through energy retrofit measures (276 and 0, respectively). Thus, CFC/HFC banks should not be neglected in LCA studies of existing buildings due to their possible significant impact on a building’s ecoprofile. Full article

Among the aspects with major impacts on the energy and environmental performance of a building, the thermal insulation of the opaque elements of its envelope stands out. This work assesses the influence of the application of thermal insulation to the opaque elements of the building’s envelope on the thermal comfort conditions indoors; moreover, the influence of the thermal insulation on the energy, environmental, and economic costs over the building’s complete life cycle is evaluated. For this purpose, the three most commonly used thermal insulating materials (expanded polystyrene—EPS, extruded polystyrene—XPS, and mineral wool—MW), thicknesses between 0 (without insulation) and 40 cm, five climates (hot, warm, moderate, cold, and very cold), and six types of use (apartment, housing, clinic, school, bank branch, and supermarket) were considered. EPS reveals itself to be the most promising thermal insulation material, both in economic and environmental terms, so it was selected for this study. The EPS’ optimal thickness depends on the building’s type of use, the climate, and the perspective from which the assessment is carried out (energy, environmental, or economic). The results show that the economically optimal thicknesses of thermal insulation are significantly lower than the corresponding ones in environmental terms. Furthermore, the application of thermal insulation to the opaque building’s envelope is more beneficial in energy and environmental terms than from an economic perspective. Full article

The building sector is a key contributor to climate change, accounting for 40% of global energy consumption and 39% of CO₂ emissions. Presently, green buildings have been viewed as crucial strategies to reduce the negative effects of the construction sector. Yet green building research is often carried out in developed countries, while relatively little is known in sub-Saharan African countries. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the extent of adoption of green building concepts and technologies in Ethiopian buildings, with particular reference to the Wegagen Bank Headquarters building. The study employed an interview, which was underpinned by observation. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics while the qualitative data were analyzed through content and context analysis. Results revealed that while the building provides convenient access to transportation; it lacks designated open spaces. Based on the findings, the widely used technologies were energy-saving lighting, highly efficient plumbing fixtures, and external solar shading system. Lack of awareness, lack of policy, insufficient professional skills, the perception that green buildings are expensive, and lack of green building materials hindered the adoption of the concepts. Therefore, the study suggests developing green building policy and rating systems, professional capacity building, and awareness creation as important measures. Full article

We examine the effects of receiving remittances on household saving behaviour and expenditure patterns in Vietnam. We consider the amount of saving, the saving rate, and the share of expenditure, as well as per capita expenditure on education, health, assets, house repairs, food, non-food, and utilities. We apply propensity score matching to data from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) of 2012. We find that remittances have a positive impact on household savings and increase both the amount of saving and the saving rate. As far as expenditure patterns are concerned, our results indicate that receiving households spend more on health, assets, and house repairs, and less on food. This finding suggests that households tend to use remittances productively, with receiving households increasing their investments in human and physical capital. For the economy as a whole, remittances can create more opportunities for the development of services provided by banks, financial institutions, hospitals and healthcare centres, and give incentives to the production of building materials and tangible assets. Full article

The inclusion of heritage conservation in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, target 11.4, stimulated a broad dialogue among heritage conservation practitioners intent on framing a meaningful role for heritage assets in historic built environments as contributors to sustainable development. Heritage-led regeneration positively impacts many aspects of society, community life, and the public realm, and can also play an important role in reaching zero-carbon environmental conservation goals by slowing the extraction of natural resources for construction, reducing the quantity of building materials sent to landfills, and using traditional technologies and knowledge to reduce operational energy use. Heritage regeneration can also be a strong contributor to economic growth, as restored and reused properties create wealth, serve as community social magnets, and attract prestige and visitors. However, there is little progress towards positioning heritage conservation as a focal point for multilateral public-private co-financing projects and partnerships. In 2021, the Cultural Heritage Finance Alliance (CHiFA) published research about successful models of urban heritage regeneration that engage public-private cooperation. CHiFA now presents a process, developed as part of a study commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), for advancing projects that maximize investment in heritage-led urban regeneration, matching financing strategies with local opportunities, legal frameworks, enabling tools, and the requirements of prospective investors. The result is a marketplace and ecosystem that support civic and community interests through long-term, multi-party collaboration using blended capital investment in heritage as a sustainable development strategy. Full article

Phase change material (PCM)-based thermal energy storage (TES) systems are widely used for repeated intermittent heating and cooling applications. However, such systems typically face some challenges due to the low thermal conductivity and expensive encapsulation process of PCMs. The present study overcomes these challenges by proposing a lightweight, low-cost, and low thermal resistance TES system that realizes a fluid-to-PCM additively manufactured metal-polymer composite heat exchanger (HX), based on our previously developed cross-media approach. A robust and simplified, analytical-based, 1D reduced-order model (ROM) was developed to compute the TES system performance, saving computational time compared to modeling the entire TES system using PCM-related transient CFD modeling. The TES model was reduced to a segment-level model comprising a single PCM-wire cylindrical domain based on the tube-bank geometry formed by the metal fin-wires. A detailed study on the geometric behavior of the cylindrical domain and the effect of overlapped areas, where the overlapped areas represent a deviation from 1D assumption on the TES performance, was conducted. An optimum geometric range of wire-spacings and size was identified. The 1D ROM assumes 1D radial conduction inside the PCM and analytically computes latent energy stored in the single PCM-wire cylindrical domain using thermal resistance and energy conservation principles. The latent energy is then time-integrated for the entire TES, making the 1D ROM computationally efficient. The 1D ROM neglects sensible thermal capacity and is thus applicable for the low Stefan number applications in the present study. The performance parameters of the 1D ROM were then validated with a 2D axisymmetric model, typically used in the literature, using commercially available CFD tools. For validation, a parametric study of a wide range of non-dimensionalized parameters, depending on applications ranging from pulsed-power cooling to peak-load shifting for building cooling application, is included in this paper. The 1D ROM appears to correlate well with the 2D axisymmetric model to within 10%, except at some extreme ranges of a few of the non-dimensional parameters, which lead to the condition of axial conduction inside the PCM, deviating from the 1D ROM. Full article