Waste reduction final report -4 - Test Input

Envest (GB), BECOSE (Finland), ECOSOFT (A), ESCALE (F), Sima-Pro (NL), LEGEP
(DE).
In Switzerland, a list of ecological indicators for various construction (and other) materials
has been developed. Data are representing Swiss averages and are based mainly on the
ecoinvent Database. This list is a basis for various Swiss building assessment tools such as
the "electronic constructional element catalogue" or the Software "LTE Ogip" [Empa 2009].
Recently KBOB, as coordination platform for governmental building owners, together with
many private companies from the material and construction industry launched a project to
expand and update life cycle inventory data for construction materials and products. Theses
data should be part of the ecoinvent data base 3.0 that should be available by the end of 2011.
A rough calculation of ecological impacts of specific components can be made with the help
of a “checklist for components” (Bauteilkatalog). Calculations integrate production phase,
renewal and deposition of the materials over a building lifetime of 100 years. Impacts are
shown for environmental burdens, grey energy and greenhouse effect. You can find more
details on www.bauteilkatalog.ch (d/f)
4. Examples, case studies
This chapter shows selected examples where construction resources use and waste are or
have been significantly reduced or where there are made attempts aiming at this.
MINERGIE-ECO ® - www.minergie.ch (d/f/i/e)
MINERGIE® and MINERGIE-P® are labels for sustainable buildings. MINERGIE has been
initiated in 1994 and today is the most important and widely accepted energy-standard for
low-energy buildings in Switzerland. In 2006, the MINERGIE-ECO® standard has been
added in cooperation with the Swiss association eco-bau. This standard does not only cover
aspects of energy-efficiency and thermal comfort, but also health and building material
aspects concerning the choice of construction materials and indoor environmental quality.
In order to get a MINERGIE-ECO® or MINERGIE-P-ECO® certificate, a building needs to
fulfil a catalogue of criteria on the basis of the MINERGIE®- or the MINERGIE-P®
standard [CIB 2008]. Today, there are 14,217 buildings certified with the MINERGIE®
standard, 481 with MINERGIE-P®, 54 with MINERGIE-ECO® and 61 with MINERGIE-P-
ECO® - most of them in Switzerland, some in bordering countries (updates of these figures
on the website). It can be claimed that at the moment MINERGIE-ECO® leads to the most
sustainable way of building constructing in Switzerland. For example, the use of recycling
concrete is mandatory and there is put focus on separable and locally produced materials.
Taking into account the whole life cycle costing, buildings as to this label are cheaper in most
of the cases. However, a building implementing all points demanded has higher costs of
about 20% than a building considering basic regulations at the beginning of its life. This can
be an obstacle to choose MINERGIE-ECO®.
Initiatives on the internet
There have been made several attempts to establish routes for construction waste handling on
the internet. However, none of these was really successful. Reasons are amongst other
different standards in the cantons or the difficulty of obtaining the attention of enough users.
Today, there are for example two routes on the internet:
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