Building maintenance is the sustainable choice

At a time when sustainability and climate change are high on the global agenda, it is important to look more closely at the alternatives that can reduce our environmental impact. A recent publication from Aalborg University, “Towards embodied carbon benchmarks for buildings in Europe: #2 Setting the baseline”, clearly shows that maintenance and renovation of existing buildings are among the most sustainable strategies for reducing CO2 emissions in the construction industry. This blogpost will explore the importance of these alternatives, as well as present facts and graphs from the report to support this argument.

Facts and Arguments:

The report highlights that the construction sector is one of the biggest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. New construction requires large amounts of energy and materials, resulting in high CO2 emissions. Alternatively, by focusing on the maintenance and renovation of existing buildings, we can reduce the need for new materials and minimize energy consumption.

CO2 emissions:

According to the report, renovating existing buildings can reduce total CO2 emissions by up to 50% compared to new construction. The graph below (Figure 1) from the report shows CO2 emissions per square metre for different construction scenarios where renovation clearly has the lowest emissions.

At a time when sustainability and climate change are high on the global agenda, it is important to look more closely at the alternatives that can reduce our environmental impact. A recent publication from Aalborg University, “Towards embodied carbon benchmarks for buildings in Europe: #2 Setting the baseline”, clearly shows that maintenance and renovation of existing buildings are among the most sustainable strategies for reducing CO2 emissions in the construction industry. This blogpost will explore the importance of these alternatives, as well as present facts and graphs from the report to support this argument.

Facts and Arguments:

The report highlights that the construction sector is one of the biggest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. New construction requires large amounts of energy and materials, resulting in high CO2 emissions. Alternatively, by focusing on the maintenance and renovation of existing buildings, we can reduce the need for new materials and minimize energy consumption.

CO2 emissions:

According to the report, renovating existing buildings can reduce total CO2 emissions by up to 50% compared to new construction. The graph below (Figure 1) from the report shows CO2 emissions per square metre for different construction scenarios where renovation clearly has the lowest emissions.