Lone Ross
Director
Authors
Kristina Bringedal Gedde Zoe Angele Adele Cordhomme Romain Guillaume Billy Roja Modaresi Lone Ross Daniel Beat MuellerAbstract
The use of wood in building construction can substitute more emission-intensive materials while storing biogenic carbon, as buildings are long-lasting stocks. Yet, increasing use of wood for buildings competes with other uses of wood and can have negative consequences for forest ecosystems. A cascadic use of wood has the potential to increase wood use and carbon storage with less primary wood. However, there is limited knowledge of how cascadic use principles can be implemented in specific regional contexts. While several building stock studies have tracked wood inflows, stocks, and outflows, they tend to lack a building component/element resolution, which is critical to inform strategies for component reuse. Furthermore, little is known about how cascadic use may influence wood inflows to the national building stocks. Hence, the objective of this study is to quantify end-of-life outflows of wood from building elements and to assess the share of these outflows that can be cascaded into new construction, thereby affecting future inflows to the building stock. This stock-model is built on dynamic material flow analysis principles and developed based on the ODYM-REC Python framework (Pauliuk & Heeren, 2020). It facilitates scenario-development with different reuse and recycling rates and lifetimes that change with time and cohort. The stock-matrix is layered by cohorts and building types, where the building types are differentiated by small or large wooden or non-wooden buildings, including load-bearing wooden structure types. Material intensity values are gathered from literature for the total mass per floor area and at the element level for the defined building types. Including building elements and separating building types and their load-bearing structure types has enabled us to develop a more granular understanding of wood use and its cascading potential. Preliminary results indicate that structural wooden elements in the walls and floors, such as columns and beams, have the highest potential for cascading because of their high structural capacity and quantity. However, barriers to large-scale reuse need to be addressed, including the challenges of dismantling buildings, requirements for quality certification, and financial and logistical constraints.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Kristina Bringedal Gedde Georgios Triantafyllidis Alessio Miatto Lone Ross Lizhen Huang Daniel Beat MuellerAbstract
The building sector accounts for a significant share of global material stocks and embodied greenhouse gas emissions. Material intensity (MI), defined as construction materials per unit floor area, is a key metric for understanding resource use and environmental performance. Existing approaches estimate MI for specific building types and cohorts but rarely explore additional factors that influence the structural element requirements. This study refines traditional methods by incorporating building geometry, number of floors, geographical context, construction methods, and regulatory changes, using Norwegian residential buildings as a case study. We focus on stud use in exterior walls to understand how their MI (kg/m 2 ) varies across buildings. Our correlation analysis reveals that construction year (ρ = 0.69) and energy efficiency standards (ρ = 0.51) are associated with higher MI of studs while building length shows a notable negative correlation (ρ = –0.38). Timber stud MI increases with footprint complexity and number of floors but decreases as building length and floor area grow. Snow load further contributes to increased stud MI. Studs' MI also varies across periods, reflecting changes in regulations and construction practices. These findings enhance our understanding of material use drivers in timber structures and provide a foundation for developing more nuanced building stock models to improve resource efficiency assessments and support targeted climate mitigation strategies.
