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Towards Urban Mining—Estimating the Potential Environmental Benefits by Applying an Alternative Construction Practice. A Case Study from Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Efstathios Kakkos

    (Technology and Society Laboratory (TSL), Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland)

  • Felix Heisel

    (Circular Construction Lab, Department of Architecture, Cornell AAP, Cornell University, 235E. Sibley Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA)

  • Dirk E. Hebel

    (Fachgebiet Nachhaltiges Bauen, Institut Entwerfen und Bautechnik, Fakultät für Architektur, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Englerstrasse 11, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany)

  • Roland Hischier

    (Technology and Society Laboratory (TSL), Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland)

Abstract

Modern cities emerged as the main accumulator for primary and waste materials. Recovery of both types from buildings after demolition/disassembly creates a secondary material stream that could relieve pressure from primary resources. Urban mining represents this circular approach, and its application depends on redefining current construction practice. Through the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and assuming primary resources as step zero of urban mining, this study estimates the impacts and benefits of conventional versus a circular construction practice applied to various buildings with different parameters and the country-level environmental potential savings that could be achieved through this switch in construction practice—using the increase of the residential building stock in Switzerland between 2012 and 2016 as a case study and key values from the experimental unit “Urban Mining and Recycling”, designed by Werner Sobek with Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel and installed inside the NEST (Next Evolution in Sustainable Building Technologies) research building on the Empa campus in Switzerland. The results exhibit lower total impacts (at least 16% in each examined impact category) at building level and resulting benefits (i.e., 68–117 kt CO 2 -Eq) at country level over five years, which can be further reduced/increased respectively by using existing or recycled components, instead of virgin materials.

Suggested Citation

  • Efstathios Kakkos & Felix Heisel & Dirk E. Hebel & Roland Hischier, 2020. "Towards Urban Mining—Estimating the Potential Environmental Benefits by Applying an Alternative Construction Practice. A Case Study from Switzerland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-16, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5041-:d:374013
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC, 2008. "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report," Working Papers id:1325, eSocialSciences.
    2. Daniel R. Cooper & Timothy G. Gutowski, 2017. "The Environmental Impacts of Reuse: A Review," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(1), pages 38-56, February.
    3. Paul H. Brunner, 2011. "Urban Mining A Contribution to Reindustrializing the City," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 15(3), pages 339-341, June.
    4. Allwood, Julian M. & Ashby, Michael F. & Gutowski, Timothy G. & Worrell, Ernst, 2011. "Material efficiency: A white paper," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 362-381.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sarah C. Andersen & Harpa Birgisdottir & Morten Birkved, 2022. "Life Cycle Assessments of Circular Economy in the Built Environment—A Scoping Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-31, June.
    2. Kristijan Brglez & Matjaž Perc & Rebeka Kovačič Lukman, 2024. "The complexity and interconnectedness of circular cities and the circular economy for sustainability," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 2049-2065, June.
    3. Namya Sharma & Pradip P. Kalbar & Muhammad Salman, 2024. "Development of building stock model for an emerging city in India: Learnings for enabling circular economy in the built environment," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(4), pages 751-767, August.
    4. Patrycja Hoffa-Dabrowska & Katarzyna Grzybowska, 2020. "Simulation Modeling of the Sustainable Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Ester van der Voet & Janneke van Oorschot & Teun Verhagen & Lauran van Oers & Vincent van Straalen & Vivian Tunn & Kiki Kersten & Roel Delahaye, 2025. "The urban mine of the Netherlands: The material basis for a circular economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 29(3), pages 967-981, June.

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