After the oil crisis of the 1970s, which made the world aware about the limitations and the exhaustibility of natural resources, the business sector started to consider the long-term financial sustainability important, also in light of the global challenges that the world is facing (Retief, et al., 2016): companies, adopting such approach, can create a win-win situation exploiting the integration of such issues into the core business to develop distinctive value creation strategies. According to this strategic vision of Corporate Social Responsibility, corporations generate economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges (Porter and Kramer, 2011). This premise is useful to understand the reasons why Circular Economy (CE) has recently gained broad diffusion and popularity in the industrial context of developed nations (Kirchherr, et al., 2017). In this context, an industry that still needs development of knowledge and tools about Circular Economy, in order to have a larger adoption, is the built environment industry (Lacy and Rutqvist, 2015; Benachio, et al., 2020). A circular intervention that can be applied to such industry is the building retrofit. The debate on retrofit of buildings is fluorescing in recent years and it is recalling the interest of a growing number of researchers and practitioners. The industry indeed is particularly interesting from the perspective of retrofit (Scuderi, 2019): several research contributions highlight the increasing need for quality retrofitting to improve the energetic performances of the buildings, but also to increase the percentage of materials recycled or reused during the building’s lifecycle (Leising, et al., 2018). The built environment industry overall is the world’s largest consumer of raw materials - it accounts for 50% of global steel production and consumes more than 3 billion tons of raw materials (World Economic Forum, 2016), resulting in the single largest contributor to climate change - with occupied buildings responsible for 30 - 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions (UNEP, 2014). The issue of greenhouse gas emission is particularly due to the energy inefficiency of the buildings. Indeed, although recent decades have seen tremendous progress in improving the energy efficiency of buildings and the liveability of cities, in Europe, for instance, buildings consume 40% of the energy demand, emitting 36% of total CO2. At present, about 35% of the EU's buildings are over 50 years old and almost 75% of the building stock is energy inefficient; at the same time, only 0.4 - 1.2% (depending on the country) of the building stock is retrofitted each year . Moreover, considering that the transition towards CE is definitely increasingly important, circular business model has recently emerged as a new paradigm in the CE research to analyse the transition of companies from a linear to a circular business model (Urbinati, et al., 2017), also because fostered by the emerging of new digital technologies (Rosa, et al., 2019). Therefore, this research proposes a multidimensional framework for evaluating the role of the new digital technologies in boosting such transition towards a circular approach and for measuring the building retrofit through a scorecard of KPIs linked to the three dimensions of sustainability. Such framework is then tested on 27 case studies and the analysis proves that it would be incomplete to consider, as in the actual situation, the retrofit only in terms of merely economic intervention because it provides circularity to a building; consequently, the analysis must take into account also the other dimensions of sustainability, such as the positive impacts on the environment (for the reduced CO2 emissions) and on people’s quality of life . Moreover, the research offers a contribution to the current scientific research that crosses the themes of CE and the new digital technologies, by showing their role in supporting companies, operating in the built environment industry, to boost the transition towards a Circular Economy.
Dopo la crisi petrolifera degli anni '70, che ha reso il mondo consapevole dei limiti e dell'esauribilità delle risorse naturali, il settore imprenditoriale ha iniziato a considerare importante la sostenibilità finanziaria di lungo termine, anche alla luce delle sfide globali che il mondo sta affrontando (Retief, et al., 2016): le aziende, adottando tale approccio, possono creare una situazione “win-win” sfruttando l'integrazione di tali problematiche nel core business aziendale, al fine di sviluppare strategie distintive di creazione del valore. Secondo questa visione strategica della responsabilità sociale dell’impresa, le aziende generano valore economico in un modo che crea anche valore per la società, affrontando le sue esigenze e le sue sfide (Porter e Kramer, 2011). Questa premessa è utile per comprendere i motivi per cui l’Economia Circolare ha recentemente guadagnato ampia diffusione e popolarità nel contesto industriale delle nazioni sviluppate (Kirchherr, et al., 2017). In questo contesto, un settore che necessita ancora dello sviluppo di conoscenze e strumenti sull'Economia Circolare è l'industria delle costruzioni (Lacy and Rutqvist, 2015; Benachio, et al., 2020). Un intervento circolare che può essere applicato a tale settore è la riqualificazione (“retrofit”) di un edificio. Il dibattito sul retrofit si sta diffondendo negli ultimi anni e sta richiamando l'interesse di un numero crescente di ricercatori e professionisti. Il settore in effetti è particolarmente interessante dal punto di vista del retrofit (Scuderi, 2019): numerosi contributi di ricerca evidenziano la crescente necessità di un retrofit di qualità per migliorare le prestazioni energetiche degli edifici, nonché per aumentare la percentuale di materiali riciclati o riutilizzati durante il ciclo di vita dell'edificio (Leising, et al., 2018). L'industria delle costruzioni è complessivamente il più grande consumatore mondiale di materie prime: rappresenta il 50% della produzione mondiale di acciaio e consuma oltre 3 miliardi di tonnellate di materie prime (World Economic Forum, 2016), risultando come principale settore per il cambiamento climatico. Il problema delle emissioni di gas serra è dovuto in particolare all'inefficienza energetica degli edifici. In effetti, sebbene negli ultimi decenni si siano registrati enormi progressi nel miglioramento dell'efficienza energetica degli edifici e della vivibilità delle città, in Europa, ad esempio, gli edifici consumano il 40% della domanda di energia, emettendo il 36% sul totale di CO2 nell’aria. Attualmente, circa il 35% degli edifici dell'UE ha più di 50 anni e quasi il 75% del patrimonio edilizio è inefficiente dal punto di vista energetico; allo stesso tempo, solo lo 0,4 - 1,2% (a seconda del paese) del patrimonio edilizio viene riqualificato ogni anno. Inoltre, considerando che la transizione verso l’Economia Circolare è sicuramente sempre più importante, il modello di business circolare è recentemente emerso come un nuovo paradigma nella ricerca per analizzare la transizione delle aziende verso nuovi modelli di business (Urbinati, et al., 2017), anche perché favorito dalla nascita delle nuove tecnologie digitali (Rosa, et al., 2019). Pertanto, questa ricerca propone un framework multidimensionale per valutare il ruolo delle nuove tecnologie digitali nel promuovere tale transizione verso un approccio circolare e per misurare il retrofit di un edificio attraverso una scorecard di KPIs collegati alle tre dimensioni della sostenibilità. Tale framework viene quindi testato su 27 casi di studio e l'analisi dimostra che sarebbe incompleto considerare, come nella situazione reale, il retrofit solo in termini di semplice intervento economico, visto che tale intervento fornisce circolarità ad un edificio; di conseguenza, l'analisi deve tenere conto anche delle altre dimensioni della sostenibilità, come il positivo impatto sull’ambiente per la riduzione di emissioni di CO2 e sulla qualità della vita delle persone che vivono o lavorano nell’edificio. Inoltre, la ricerca offre un contributo all'attuale ricerca scientifica che interseca l’Economia Circolare e le nuove tecnologie digitali, mostrando il loro ruolo nel supportare le aziende, operanti in tale settore, per favorire la transizione verso un'Economia Circolare.
Circular economy in the built environment industry : a multidimensional framework for building retrofit and digitalization
Galassi, Dino
2019/2020
Abstract
After the oil crisis of the 1970s, which made the world aware about the limitations and the exhaustibility of natural resources, the business sector started to consider the long-term financial sustainability important, also in light of the global challenges that the world is facing (Retief, et al., 2016): companies, adopting such approach, can create a win-win situation exploiting the integration of such issues into the core business to develop distinctive value creation strategies. According to this strategic vision of Corporate Social Responsibility, corporations generate economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges (Porter and Kramer, 2011). This premise is useful to understand the reasons why Circular Economy (CE) has recently gained broad diffusion and popularity in the industrial context of developed nations (Kirchherr, et al., 2017). In this context, an industry that still needs development of knowledge and tools about Circular Economy, in order to have a larger adoption, is the built environment industry (Lacy and Rutqvist, 2015; Benachio, et al., 2020). A circular intervention that can be applied to such industry is the building retrofit. The debate on retrofit of buildings is fluorescing in recent years and it is recalling the interest of a growing number of researchers and practitioners. The industry indeed is particularly interesting from the perspective of retrofit (Scuderi, 2019): several research contributions highlight the increasing need for quality retrofitting to improve the energetic performances of the buildings, but also to increase the percentage of materials recycled or reused during the building’s lifecycle (Leising, et al., 2018). The built environment industry overall is the world’s largest consumer of raw materials - it accounts for 50% of global steel production and consumes more than 3 billion tons of raw materials (World Economic Forum, 2016), resulting in the single largest contributor to climate change - with occupied buildings responsible for 30 - 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions (UNEP, 2014). The issue of greenhouse gas emission is particularly due to the energy inefficiency of the buildings. Indeed, although recent decades have seen tremendous progress in improving the energy efficiency of buildings and the liveability of cities, in Europe, for instance, buildings consume 40% of the energy demand, emitting 36% of total CO2. At present, about 35% of the EU's buildings are over 50 years old and almost 75% of the building stock is energy inefficient; at the same time, only 0.4 - 1.2% (depending on the country) of the building stock is retrofitted each year . Moreover, considering that the transition towards CE is definitely increasingly important, circular business model has recently emerged as a new paradigm in the CE research to analyse the transition of companies from a linear to a circular business model (Urbinati, et al., 2017), also because fostered by the emerging of new digital technologies (Rosa, et al., 2019). Therefore, this research proposes a multidimensional framework for evaluating the role of the new digital technologies in boosting such transition towards a circular approach and for measuring the building retrofit through a scorecard of KPIs linked to the three dimensions of sustainability. Such framework is then tested on 27 case studies and the analysis proves that it would be incomplete to consider, as in the actual situation, the retrofit only in terms of merely economic intervention because it provides circularity to a building; consequently, the analysis must take into account also the other dimensions of sustainability, such as the positive impacts on the environment (for the reduced CO2 emissions) and on people’s quality of life . Moreover, the research offers a contribution to the current scientific research that crosses the themes of CE and the new digital technologies, by showing their role in supporting companies, operating in the built environment industry, to boost the transition towards a Circular Economy.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/165003