Akhimien, N (2022) A framework for incorporating circular economy in the design of energy efficient residential buildings in Nigeria. PhD thesis, Cardiff University, UK.
Abstract
For buildings to meet the energy-demand in maintaining the required conditions for thermal comfort, residents, most especially in developing-countries, are compelled to seek alternative sources of electricity due to inadequate power supply. This has resulted in the use of environmentally polluting equipment like generators to compensate for the required energy demand, thus, leading to an increase in carbon-emissions. Passive design strategies have proven to be effective in reducing energy-demand in buildings, thus reducing carbon-emissions as well as improving building performance. There is also a substantial-drop in the availability of building materials due to poor recycling culture and the use of materials from non-renewable sources. Consequently, unrecycled building wastes pose environmental hazards. Buildings are seen to be material-banks for a circular economy, therefore incorporating a circular economy into passively designed buildings will not only safely-protect the climate but also improve resource-efficiency. This study focuses on incorporating circular economy principles into passive-design strategies for energy and resource-efficient residential buildings in Nigeria. Carbon-dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere is still on the increase as buildings are responsible for a significant amount of this emission globally. It is therefore imperative that prompt measures are taken to combat the effect of global-warming and associated threats. Nigeria is rapidly growing in human-population, resources on the other hand have receded greatly, and there is an urgent need for circularity of building materials. The research offers an effective and efficient approach for the combination of passive-design and circular economy. The study is divided into two major aspects: Passive-design strategies and Circular economy. Passive-design strategies for the tropical-savannah climate of Nigeria were examined to assess the requirements for the climatic region. This involved a dynamic-energy simulation of a base case residential building-typology and a further quantitative comparison with an optimised case to reflect the values of energy-efficiency between the base-case and the optimised-case. Circular economy was also subdivided into design for disassembly, and design for reuse/recycling. Recyclable/reusable building materials were sorted using the ReSOLVE framework and the building was divided into modules using the 7S model which informed the development of a material selection-matrix for identifying and selecting reusable, recyclable and energy-efficient building materials in a circular economy. After the optimisation, it was discovered that the building energy-demand improved. The research conclusively developed the approach and framework/guide for incorporating circular economy in the design of energy and resource-efficient buildings in the tropical savannah climate of Nigeria.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | culture; hazards; optimisation; residential; equipment; building performance; circular economy; recycling; Nigeria; thermal comfort; simulation |
| Index terms: | design for disassembly, energy-efficient building, module, thermal comfort, building material, circular economy, Nigeria, recycling, circularity, energy demand, efficiency, residential building, population, passive design, building performance, strategy, design strategy, environmental hazard, energy simulation |
| Subjects: | demography, quality assurance, architectural elements, sustainable design, Geography, construction type, waste management, sustainable materials, environmental health, environmental engineering, management, performance management, building materials, sustainability and energy, modelling and simulation, energy systems, design methods |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Sustainability, Geographical Context, Digital Applications, Urban Studies, Design Practice, Construction Technology, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
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