Explorative case study to gain insight on the consequences of circular infrastructural construction projects: Investigating the effects of circularity in construction projects on project process and construction costs.

The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of implementing circularity in infrastructural construction projects. As a very polluting sector, circularity is becoming a more and more popular theme in the construction industry. Driven by both governmental regulations of reaching a full circular economy in 2050 and intrinsic motivation,...

The technical or biological loop? Economic and environmental performance of circular building components

The construction sector can become more sustainable by applying the Circular Economy concept, which distinguishes two main pathways: substituting materials for biological materials, or optimizing the use or reuse of technical materials. Practitioners sometimes choose one pathway over the other, but knowledge of which of these pathways yields...

Application of LCA and LCC in the early stages of wastewater treatment design: A multiple case study of brine effluents

Technological developments are opening new avenues to facilitate the circular economy through resource recovery from industrial wastewater. This paper presents the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) in the development of technology solutions for the treatment of brine wastewater and recovery of by-products. Four...

Assessing circular buildings: A balance between circularity and life cycle costs of a building

Being one of the world’s largest waste generator, the construction industry is responsible for a train of events such as global warming, climate change, and depletion of natural resources. Materials are exhausted globally to a large extent and the waste produced in the process is not treated properly. A “take-make-dispose” or popularly known as...

A circular economy life cycle costing model (CE-LCC) for building components

The building industry is responsible for the highest resource use, amount of waste and emissions of all industries. The principles of the Circular Economy (CE) could offer an approach to create a more sustainable built environment. For a transition towards a circular built environment, a comprehensive assessment method is needed to support...

The SPPD-WRF framework: A novel and holistic methodology for strategical planning and process design of water resource factories

This paper guides decision making in more sustainable urban water management practices that feed into a circular economy by presenting a novel framework for conceptually designing and strategically planning wastewater treatment processes from a resource recovery perspective. Municipal wastewater cannot any longer be perceived as waste stream...