Circular economy: sustainable solutions for the construction industry
The Swiss construction industry is facing major challenges in terms of material consumption and emissions. Two Innosuisse-funded projects led by ETH Zurich are demonstrating solutions: Think Earth is developing sustainable building materials such as recycled materials, while Swircular is using digital tools to enable circular construction.
According to a statement from ETH Zurich, the Swiss construction industry currently accounts for 70 percent of domestic material consumption, 80 percent of waste and 24 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. To counteract this trend, Innosuisse, the Swiss innovation promotion agency, has launched two projects on the circular economy in the construction sector, which are being led by ETH Zurich.
The Think Earth project uses building materials such as wood, clay and recycled concrete. One example of this construction method is the Manal Pavilion, which was opened on the Horw campus of Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. The project was realized by Oxara, a spin-off of the ETH.
The Swircular project presents a digital ecosystem for circular construction. Digital building inventories and product passports for building materials are to be used to create a basis for circular construction processes. Registered building elements can be reused in the event of demolition.
“Our vision is a network of stakeholders, digital tools and reliable data that makes it possible to track materials throughout their life cycle and exchange relevant information,” project manager Arabelle de Saussure is quoted as saying in the press release.
A large number of institutions are involved in the projects, including the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology(Empa), the Zurich University of Applied Sciences(ZHAW) and the universities of applied sciences in Bern and eastern Switzerland.