The Building Industry Needs to Reuse & Recycle More Materials

The problem

Building materials will account for a larger proportion of climate impact

In Norway, the building industry produces roughly 2,100,000 tons of waste annually (Source: Avfallsbransjen). Almost 75% (1.5 million tonnes) of this waste comes from refurbishing and demolishing projects. Huge amounts of materials that could have been reused are instead discarded.

The greatest potential for reducing waste lies in knowing the value, quantity, and quality of these materials beforehand, and also having knowledge about the accessibility to them for disassembly. That is what Again X works for. Our AI algorithms are designed to uncover this data and support you in creating new value.

These figures could be lowered if demolition and rehabilitation were done more efficiently. Building materials already have a carbon footprint from their production. By extending the life of already manufactured materials, the need to manufacture new materials can be dramatically reduced. Refurbishing existing buildings instead of demolishing them is an effective way of reducing unnecessary environmental impact. This contributes to an immediate carbon footprint reduction, via avoidance, according to the Paris agreement and EU directives.

Buildings are becoming more energy efficient. This increases the proportion of climate impact from building materials (embodied carbon). (Image source: Again X)

The Future Situation in Norway

The Norwegian building stock is becoming increasingly energy-efficient (Source: Sandberg et al.). New buildings both in Norway and the European Union (EU) are since 2020 Zero Energy or Near-Zero Energy Buildings (Source: European Commission). They will increasingly be renovated instead of demolished. Renovations of buildings with extensive use of heat pumps (HP) and photovoltaics (PV) will reduce energy use. On average, a building will generally be renovated at least twice (every 40 years) before being demolished (after 125 years, on average).

Energy impact of a Zero Energy Neighborhood (ZEN) 2020–2080. As operational energy consumption is reduced to a minimum, buildings still impact the environment through the production of new building materials. (Image source: Lausselet et al., 2020)

This translates to an even higher environmental impact from materials – manufacturing, transport, building, and maintenance. One study from NTNU focused on ZEN (Zero Energy Neighborhood) and points out that the impact of materials in an energy-efficient building increases between two- and threefold, from around one third of conventional buildings' lifetime greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to around three-quarters of the total lifetime greenhouse gas emissions, for a ZEB (Zero Energy Building).

The Solution

A Long-Term Perspective

Again X works to provide more information about buildings in the early planning phase. With more knowledge earlier in the refurbishment process, better decisions can be made about the materials used in buildings, leading to more reuse and less waste. From the project we have worked on (Bærum Kommunegården), potential savings are between 10% to 20% of the total project costs. Even when buildings reach the end of their useful lives, the materials still retain value and could be made available to other projects at a competitive value, turning a cost (with disposal) into revenue (post-market valuation).

Our goal is to significantly impact the global real estate industry by lowering the risk and cost early on during the planning and design phase – to really allow for a circular approach. Again X provide knowledge about building materials at an early stage to reduce building material waste. Our AI-generated KPIs (Key Performance Indexes) for buildings will revolutionize the way the real estate industry views material content beyond the visible surfaces of buildings.

We need to think beyond energy consumption and consider material use more carefully, including facilitating the reuse of materials to minimize waste. We need a longer-term perspective and need to look beyond "2030 goals," into generating even more value from our existing buildings and the already used resources.

If you want to see how we can help you to better understand your existing building portfolio, get in touch. As part of our Horizon Europe project, we can onboard a few pilot projects today.