J. Emmelot
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As of 2020, the Netherlands experiences a housing shortage of around 300,000. To respond to the projected demand, around 80,000 houses should be built every year towards 2030. At the same time, the Dutch government has had ambitions and plans towards a circular economy by 2050. Their plans were released in 2016, after which concise reports were made on how to transition certain sectors of the economy towards circularity. These reports are called ‘Transition Agendas’, of which five have been written: Biomass & food, Plastics, Manufacturing industry, Built environment and Consumer goods. This project attempts to merge the housing challenge with the circular ambitions of the Dutch government for the Built Environment, with input from all five Transition Agendas to start. The Built Environment is one of the largest consumers of resources and energy of any industry. As it stands, this industry relies heavily on primary materials, as conventional materials and ways of construction and demolition are not tailored to reuse or recycling of resources. The other sectors covered by the Transition Agendas also highlight a general reliance on primary materials and a lack of application of reused- or recycled materials by product manufacturers. This may be because the product is not designed to facilitate these processes or since some manufacturers are reluctant to use non-primary resources due to pricing or quality concerns. Pollution and contamination of used products is also a common issue for recycling. Finally, interests and ambitions may vary between parties when it comes to circularity. This project has three main goals. The first is to connect ambitions and material streams from different resource sectors, the second is to increase the circularity of conventional housing elements and the third is to apply resources from linear material streams in a circular way. The focus of the goals is on the housing envelope. This leads to the main research question: How can the circularity of conventional Dutch housing envelope elements be increased, through the application of residual resources from linear material streams? First, it is researched how circularity can be defined and measured towards the project goals. Then, contemporary Dutch houses are analysed to distinguish all common envelope elements and their conventional materials. It is then speculated what circular improvements can be made on these elements, either by using the original material in a different way or by using alternative (linear) materials. From these ideas, a handful of promising examples is picked as the basis for creating three product case studies, to compare to conventional products. Based on the entire research process, an advisory framework is created, intended for use by those seeking to apply residual materials into new building elements or to simply develop building elements based on circular principles. ...
As of 2020, the Netherlands experiences a housing shortage of around 300,000. To respond to the projected demand, around 80,000 houses should be built every year towards 2030. At the same time, the Dutch government has had ambitions and plans towards a circular economy by 2050. Their plans were released in 2016, after which concise reports were made on how to transition certain sectors of the economy towards circularity. These reports are called ‘Transition Agendas’, of which five have been written: Biomass & food, Plastics, Manufacturing industry, Built environment and Consumer goods. This project attempts to merge the housing challenge with the circular ambitions of the Dutch government for the Built Environment, with input from all five Transition Agendas to start. The Built Environment is one of the largest consumers of resources and energy of any industry. As it stands, this industry relies heavily on primary materials, as conventional materials and ways of construction and demolition are not tailored to reuse or recycling of resources. The other sectors covered by the Transition Agendas also highlight a general reliance on primary materials and a lack of application of reused- or recycled materials by product manufacturers. This may be because the product is not designed to facilitate these processes or since some manufacturers are reluctant to use non-primary resources due to pricing or quality concerns. Pollution and contamination of used products is also a common issue for recycling. Finally, interests and ambitions may vary between parties when it comes to circularity. This project has three main goals. The first is to connect ambitions and material streams from different resource sectors, the second is to increase the circularity of conventional housing elements and the third is to apply resources from linear material streams in a circular way. The focus of the goals is on the housing envelope. This leads to the main research question: How can the circularity of conventional Dutch housing envelope elements be increased, through the application of residual resources from linear material streams? First, it is researched how circularity can be defined and measured towards the project goals. Then, contemporary Dutch houses are analysed to distinguish all common envelope elements and their conventional materials. It is then speculated what circular improvements can be made on these elements, either by using the original material in a different way or by using alternative (linear) materials. From these ideas, a handful of promising examples is picked as the basis for creating three product case studies, to compare to conventional products. Based on the entire research process, an advisory framework is created, intended for use by those seeking to apply residual materials into new building elements or to simply develop building elements based on circular principles.