A master thesis from Aalborg University
Strategies for Retaining the Environmental Value of Roof Windows
Author(s)
Term
4. Term
Education
Publication year
2024
Submitted on
2024-06-06
Pages
80 pages
Abstract
Advancing sustainability in the building industry is crucial for meeting the European Green Deal's goals, given the industry’s high carbon emissions and resource use. This issue is partly due to the industry’s entrenched linear practices, which result in limited Circular Economy (CE) initiatives for Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW), highlighting significant room for improvement. This thesis investigates circular business models for VELUX roof windows after their initial service life. Currently, there is a narrow focus on improving the energy balance of roof windows without considering the embedded CO2 equivalents (CO2e) in existing products, leading to wasted resources that could be better preserved. This is due to a limited life cycle approach that fails to assess solutions with the lowest environmental impact. The thesis argues that more circular initiatives for VELUX’s current business model are feasible, which is a primary contribution of this study. By applying Carbon Lock-in theory and Actor-Network theory, the network involving VELUX roof windows was analysed to identify barriers and opportunities for integrating more CE into the system. Five design concepts were developed based on CE principles, offering more sustainable alternatives compared to the current business model. These concepts were evaluated using a life cycle assessment to provide actionable insights, aiming to interest, enrol, and potentially integrate these concepts into VELUX’s operations.
Keywords
Documents
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