P2 Through Adaptive Use of Historic Facilities.
Abstract
The construction industry consumes a tremendous amount of our natural resources. Demolishing serviceable buildings and hauling the debris to a landfill makes no sense from the standpoint of reducing solid waste and conserving natural resources. Wastes associated with new construction (such as concrete, bricks, asphalt (rubble), particleboard, plywood, wood products, metals, plastics/polyresins, and insulation - some of which contain toxic constituents) approximately comprise of 15 to 30 percent of all wastes disposed in landfills. Furthermore, today's buildings are constructed for relatively short-term physical usefulness based on economic investment: buildings constructed today are engineered for a twenty to forty year use with limited flexibility for upgrades and improvement. Federal tax laws suggest that building incorporating new construction practices lose their economic value after 31.5 years. Surprisingly though, new building construction accounts for about 40% of the raw material (natural resources) consumption and 11% of total energy consumption each year. Ultimately, more natural resources and energy need to be reinvested into the demolition and re-construction of functional facilities. Rehabilitation, which is the process of making an efficient compatible use or adaptive re-use of a property through repair, alterations, and additions, can conserve natural resources, cultural resources, energy, and landfill space. Admittedly, adaptive re-use of a building is much more labor intensive than new construction, but much less material and energy intensive. Energy that is embodied in a building is completely sacrificed during demolition, and more energy must be incorporated into the process of demolition, debris removal and disposal.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 21, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA351672
Entities
People
- Neal T. Hauschild
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology