Circular material flow in the intensive care unit—environmental effects and identification of hotspots

Purpose: The healthcare sector is responsible for 6–7% of CO₂ emissions. The intensive care unit (ICU) contributes to these CO₂ emissions and a shift from a linear system to a circular system is needed. The aim of our research was to perform a material flow analysis (MFA) in an academic ICU. Secondary aims were to obtain...

Environmental design guidelines for circular building components based on LCA and MFA: Lessons from the circular kitchen and renovation façade

The transition towards a Circular Economy (CE) in the built environment is vital to reduce environmental impacts, resource consumption and waste generation. The built environment can be made circular by replacing building components with more circular ones. There are many circular design options for building components and knowledge about...

Reconstructing independence on Sint Maarten: Rebuilding a resilient community with a circular neighborhood intervention

On September 6th 2017 hurricane Irma hit the island of Sint Maarten leaving 90% of the build environment destroyed and the tourist based economy to collapse. Funding for reconstruction stagnated due to corruption and a lack of proper building materials and building knowledge leads to poor reconstruction. Especially the poorer communities are...