Estimating the material intensity of wooden residential houses in Finland

Bahareh Nasiri; Tapio Kaasalainen; Mark Hughes

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107142

Estimating the material intensity of wooden residential houses in Finland

Bahareh Nasiri^*, Tapio Kaasalainen, Mark Hughes

^*Corresponding author for this work

Tampere University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

129 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Improving resource efficiency in the building sector is a significant challenge, largely due to a lack of knowledge about material usage in buildings. Material intensity (MI) quantifies materials used in buildings, normalized by floor area or volume. MIs serve as indices for material stock and flow models and as an inventory approach for assessing the environmental impact of the built environment. Therefore, this study aimed to determine MIs of Finnish wooden residential houses built between 1940 and 2010 due to the dominance of them in residential building stock and their demolition rates. Factors influencing MI and cross-country comparisons were also explored because they had not been explored enough in the literature. Results showed construction method, time cohort, floor area, design choices and footprint shape impacted MI. Accounting for variability of MI was recommended, particularly when using it for material stock and flow analysis. Data and method disparities restrict cross-country comparison of MI.

Original language	English
Article number	107142
Number of pages	11
Journal	Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Volume	198
Early online date	5 Aug 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107142
Publication status	Published - Nov 2023
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

Material intensity
Inventory data
Residential building
building material
Finland

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107142Licence: CC BY

CHEM_Nasiri_et_al_Estimating_the_material_2023_Resources_Conservation_and_RecyclingFinal published version, 2.25 MBLicence: CC BY

InFutUReWood: Innovative Design For the Future Use and Reuse of Wood (Building) Components
Hughes, M. (Principal investigator), Alam, A. (Project Member) & Nasiri, B. (Project Member)
01/03/2019 → 31/05/2022
Project: Other external funding: Other government funding

Cite this

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title = "Estimating the material intensity of wooden residential houses in Finland",

abstract = "Improving resource efficiency in the building sector is a significant challenge, largely due to a lack of knowledge about material usage in buildings. Material intensity (MI) quantifies materials used in buildings, normalized by floor area or volume. MIs serve as indices for material stock and flow models and as an inventory approach for assessing the environmental impact of the built environment. Therefore, this study aimed to determine MIs of Finnish wooden residential houses built between 1940 and 2010 due to the dominance of them in residential building stock and their demolition rates. Factors influencing MI and cross-country comparisons were also explored because they had not been explored enough in the literature. Results showed construction method, time cohort, floor area, design choices and footprint shape impacted MI. Accounting for variability of MI was recommended, particularly when using it for material stock and flow analysis. Data and method disparities restrict cross-country comparison of MI.",

keywords = "Material intensity, Inventory data, Residential building, building material, Finland",

author = "Bahareh Nasiri and Tapio Kaasalainen and Mark Hughes",

note = "This work was supported by the Forest Value ERA.net project “InFutUReWood”, which was financially supported by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment and others [grant number VN/4236/2018]; and the Kone Foundation for Technology Promotion [grant number 202104430]. As a part of the collaborative effort of InFutUReWood and the Horizon 2020 project CIRCuIT (Grant Agreement 821 201) to map the materials embedded in the Finnish residential building stock, CIRCuIT donated the drawings of the building used in this study. Also, special thanks to Maral Alae and Majid Raza for their support during data collection.",

year = "2023",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107142",

language = "English",

volume = "198",

journal = "Resources, Conservation and Recycling",

issn = "0921-3449",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Estimating the material intensity of wooden residential houses in Finland

AU - Nasiri, Bahareh

AU - Kaasalainen, Tapio

AU - Hughes, Mark

N1 - This work was supported by the Forest Value ERA.net project “InFutUReWood”, which was financially supported by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment and others [grant number VN/4236/2018]; and the Kone Foundation for Technology Promotion [grant number 202104430]. As a part of the collaborative effort of InFutUReWood and the Horizon 2020 project CIRCuIT (Grant Agreement 821 201) to map the materials embedded in the Finnish residential building stock, CIRCuIT donated the drawings of the building used in this study. Also, special thanks to Maral Alae and Majid Raza for their support during data collection.

PY - 2023/11

Y1 - 2023/11

N2 - Improving resource efficiency in the building sector is a significant challenge, largely due to a lack of knowledge about material usage in buildings. Material intensity (MI) quantifies materials used in buildings, normalized by floor area or volume. MIs serve as indices for material stock and flow models and as an inventory approach for assessing the environmental impact of the built environment. Therefore, this study aimed to determine MIs of Finnish wooden residential houses built between 1940 and 2010 due to the dominance of them in residential building stock and their demolition rates. Factors influencing MI and cross-country comparisons were also explored because they had not been explored enough in the literature. Results showed construction method, time cohort, floor area, design choices and footprint shape impacted MI. Accounting for variability of MI was recommended, particularly when using it for material stock and flow analysis. Data and method disparities restrict cross-country comparison of MI.

AB - Improving resource efficiency in the building sector is a significant challenge, largely due to a lack of knowledge about material usage in buildings. Material intensity (MI) quantifies materials used in buildings, normalized by floor area or volume. MIs serve as indices for material stock and flow models and as an inventory approach for assessing the environmental impact of the built environment. Therefore, this study aimed to determine MIs of Finnish wooden residential houses built between 1940 and 2010 due to the dominance of them in residential building stock and their demolition rates. Factors influencing MI and cross-country comparisons were also explored because they had not been explored enough in the literature. Results showed construction method, time cohort, floor area, design choices and footprint shape impacted MI. Accounting for variability of MI was recommended, particularly when using it for material stock and flow analysis. Data and method disparities restrict cross-country comparison of MI.

KW - Material intensity

KW - Inventory data

KW - Residential building

KW - building material

KW - Finland

U2 - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107142

DO - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107142

M3 - Article

SN - 0921-3449

VL - 198

JO - Resources, Conservation and Recycling

JF - Resources, Conservation and Recycling

M1 - 107142

ER -

Estimating the material intensity of wooden residential houses in Finland

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Projects

InFutUReWood: Innovative Design For the Future  Use and Reuse of Wood (Building) Components

Cite this

InFutUReWood: Innovative Design For the Future Use and Reuse of Wood (Building) Components