The impact of surface air movement on material emissions.

The effects of surface air movement on material emissions were investigated experimentally. A field study was carried out to understand the characteristics of surface air movement in real rooms, and a velocity-controlled test chamber was designed and built, based on the field study results, to provide a uniform mean air flow and boundary layer condition over the test area. An extensive experimental study on the effects of air movement on material emissions was carried out, under different mean flow velocities and turbulence fluctuations, by using the small velocity-controlled test chamber.

Sustainable building services.

              

Life cycle assessment of building materials and structures in Germany.

Life-Cycle-Assessment (LCA) becomes more and more an important tool for industry to choose the adequate material or technique leading to an expected product quality from environmental point of view. As the environmental aspects are just one part of the decision making process, economical aspects have to be implemented as well. Sustainable construction is a major driving force of building and construction technology. The building sector uses extensive quantities of natural resources, raw materials and energy.

Builders' guide. Cold climates.

       

Simulation of energy and mass flows of buildings during their life cycle.

The LCA methodology [SETAC] is applied to buildings. The system limits, functional units and allocation principles are explained. Inventories have been established for 150 buildings materials and linked to the ECOINVENT database. Buildings are described on the basis of specifications which are aggregated to (cost planning)-elements. There is a catalogue of several hundred elements. Energy needs, costs and environmental impact are calculated simultaneously. Different views are possible (type of Impact. life time phase, element).

Collection and use of environmental data on building materials.

Environmental assessment of building elements and buildings requires environmental data related to the entire life cycle of the materials, inventory tools and assessment models for environmental impacts important to buildings. For that reason environmental data have been collected for a number of building materials in a project linked to a major Danish project on Environmental Management in Building Design.

Environmental profiles of construction materials, components and buildings.

How should environmental profiles be used for construction materials? An environmental profile is a graphical presentation of environmental burdens. The concept may be used to present the results from a number of different stages within an LCA. The most effective use of profiles for materials and products in buildings has yet to be established; whether they should present raw data or data which have been interpreted and to what stage in the life of the material they should be applied.

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