Baden AG – Baden becomes the pilot city for a new research project on the potential of reusing building components. The aim is to reduce future CO2 emissions as early as the building construction stage.
The city of Baden is the focus of a new research project on the reuse of building components at the city level, according to a media release. The research program Buildings and Cities of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy(SFOE) has been implemented with the participation of the Zurich company intep (Integrale Planung GmbH) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich(ETH) with Baden as a case study since January.
The project will run for about two years and is largely financed by the SFOE. The city of Baden is contributing about a quarter of the project costs and the Federal Office for the Environment(FOEN) is also participating. “The city of Baden will benefit from tailored findings, especially for the city’s own construction projects and the ongoing revision of land use planning,” city mayor Markus Schneider is quoted as saying.
In the research project “Re-Use on the way to the net-zero target for buildings”, the focus is not on recycling components, but on direct reuse in other buildings. For the project, component flows are being modeled, the environmental impact is being determined, and the necessary framework conditions and measures for broad application are being systematically recorded, according to a statement from intep.
“The CO2 emissions of a building over its entire lifetime – i.e. not only during operation but also during construction – are an important and still underestimated potential for the necessary reduction of CO2 emissions to net zero,” Nadja Lavanga, project manager at intep, is quoted as saying.
Christian Vogler, energy coordinator for the city of Baden, cites “maintaining existing buildings instead of building new ones, circular and resource-saving construction methods, reusing building components and recycling” as potential for reduction. gba
