Prolonging life cycles of construction materials and combating climate change by cascading : The case of reusing timber in Finland
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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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Date
2021-07
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Mcode
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Language
en
Pages
10
Series
Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Volume 170
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the economic, environmental and technological challenges, as well as the environmental potential, of prolonging the life cycle of construction materials with focus on structural timber in Finland. To achieve this, a literature review was conducted along with interviews with actors pertinent to timber construction. Moreover, a case study of life cycle environmental impact assessment was conducted to quantify the potential of reusing timber to abate global warming and other environmental burden. The literature review highlighted the possibility of reusing structural timber, but pointed to the need for efficient and standardized assessment criteria. The interviews indicated interest towards the concept of circular economy applied to construction and demolition wood material, although this appears to be driven more by policy and regulation rather than for business reasons. Therefore, a reconfigured conceptual framework to achieve circularity for wood is proposed, where material brokers would be used to connect different actors along the value chain. The paper concludes with a case study showing that reusing structural timber components can result in a significant reduction of the environmental burden.Description
Funding Information: The authors gratefully thank the interviewees for providing professional visions and insights. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
Carbon footprint, Cascading, Circular economy, Environmental impact, Reuse, Timber
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Citation
Niu, Y, Rasi, K, Hughes, M, Halme, M & Fink, G 2021, ' Prolonging life cycles of construction materials and combating climate change by cascading : The case of reusing timber in Finland ', Resources, Conservation and Recycling, vol. 170, 105555 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105555