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• Spent coffee ground can efficiently be reused in GP-products manufacture. • Novel GP-products are suitable for innovative architectural applications. • Spent coffee ground based-GP products show superior energy saving behaviour. • The cost associated with GP-products production is lower to traditional ones. • A 19% energy improvement per year is achieved for the building envelope. This study investigates a possible alternative reuse of spent coffee grounds (SCG), the major residue of the brewing process, to manufacture green geopolymeric materials for innovative building applications in energy-saving construction, in line with the European Green Deal towards zero-energy building. Specimens were prepared by a combination of biomass fly ash from the Kraft paper-pulp process, as raw material (70 wt%), and SCG (up to 17.5 %), as filler. The high amount of reused bio-wastes makes the material fit the requirements for the Minimum Environmental Criteria (MEC) certification, in light of the Circular Economy (CE) approach. Sustainability is also boosted by the manufacturing process that completely occurred at ambient conditions (20 °C, 65 % RH). Materials engineering performance is evaluated to predict possible applications in construction and promote an integrated architectural design process to propose a "coffee-house" equipped with an innovative energy structure and envelope. For the scope, different technological solutions are designed and virtual energy modelling is implemented to simulate the performance of a building model in different climatic conditions and estimate the possible real efficacy of the proposed solutions in relation to building efficiency and cost management, as envisaged by the EU 2018/844 on the buildings' energy performance. The major result is that the developed material represents an optimum candidate to substitute traditional construction and building materials with a great manufacturing financial saving, up to 37 % for the 17.5 % SCG, and an energy improvement up to about 19 % per year, leading further saving in the yearly building management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The study of old and new building development in energy and environment scope. • The trade-offs between carbon emission and energy saving in old and new architecture. • The study of virgin material consumption growth in the architecture development. • Surveying the sustainable architecture development towards the Circular Economy. • Extend the potential of Circular Economy toward Regenerative design development. Nowadays, the construction industry has turned to the consumption of large amounts of natural resources in line with global population growth, which has led to the shortage of resources, and consequently increases in the construction debris; therefore, the present article has studied the positive and negative points of the architectural development process. The results have indicated that being compared to the former architecture; the development of architecture has reduced energy consumption by 78%. Hence, the scarcity of virgin resources and consequently the increase of environmental effects such as Global Warming Potential (GWP) have been measured based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). It has been illustrated that the architecture trend has increased the environmental impact of new materials by 5 times the old ones in GWP. To optimize and increase resource productivity, a review of buildings by the principles of Circular Economy (CE) has shown that 10% of old house materials and 3% of new house materials could be returned to the chain based on the CE concept. Other than reducing the GWP emissions of the construction industry and the development of zero waste systems, this paper, by replacing conventional materials with biocompatible, has been able to increase the Building Circularity (BC) by 27% in the old house and 3% in the new one, which emphasizes a regenerative approach. As a result, with this solution, more integrity would be observed between the construction environment and nature, both in the development of past architecture and in the improvement of future architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's Green Building (GB) evaluation standard has always emphasized the use of Recycled Building Materials (RBM). However, the quality of RBM is a major obstacle to its promotion. Unlike previous studies, this study innovatively developed a four-way evolutionary game model including Local Government (LG), RBM suppliers, developers and homebuyers, and examined their strategy changes from the production of building materials to the purchase and use of homes. This paper uses MATLAB 2021b software to simulate and verify the model and uses the real market data of Wuhan city and Sanya city to analyze the influence of some key factors among 23 factors such as the price of purchasing natural building materials P 2 and the basic utility obtained by purchasing a house B. The results showed the following: (1) Among the four evolutionary stable strategies in this system, the optimal strategy combination lies when LG does not plan, manufacturers perform upcycling and when developers and homebuyers choose RBM. (2) High fines can force suppliers to perform upcycling, and developers will build houses according to homebuyers' preferences. If homebuyers are in immediate demand for homes, they will more willing to purchase homes built with RBM. (3) Considering the financial pressure of LG, it should promote the system in parallel with rewards and penalties in the early stage of development, while after a period of time, LG can stop making any subsidies and only retain the regulation of suppliers. This study helps to better understand the behaviors of various stakeholders in the full life cycle of RBM, and provides some reference for the development of RBM and GB in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Review of bio PCMs considering recycling, resources conservation and green building. • Discussion on characteristics and drawbaks of bPCMs and pertinent solutions. • Insight into conventional and non-conventional sources of bPCMs. • Evaluation of data on life cycle analysis and incorporation technologies of bPCMs. • Future perspectives to promote the application of bPCMs in the construction sector. Implementation of thermal energy storage (TES) systems in buildings heavily relies on orthodox phase change materials (PCMs) which are derived from precious and non-renewable resources. Meanwhile, to promote recycling, pure green buildings campaign and natural resources conservation, biobased PCMs (bPCMs) are preferable over orthodox PCMs. The major characteristics of bPCMs that make them a preferred choice for TES applications include but are not limited to renewability, non-toxicity, minimal supercooling, high latent heat, thermal stability over a wider temperature range, reasonable melting/freezing temperatures, self-nucleating response, and limited flammability. Despite these advantages, there are different challenges attached to bPCMs that hinder their application on large scale i.e., biodegradability, odor generation, leakage, and demand-supply issues. However, most of these limitations are analogous to that of conventional PCMs, and promising research data is available on their solution. Further, the conventional source of bPCMs includes biobased oils and fats, most of which are of edible nature; thus, their widespread use could conflict with food security and undermine the major advantages of bPCMs. This issue can be resolved by minimizing the reliance of bPCM on conventional sources and looking for viable alternatives i.e., waste edible oils, animal fats, and genetically modified oils. Albeit strong evidence can be found in the literature about the viability of these alternatives, they are open to research. Further, life cycle assessment of different bPCMs also advocates their environment-friendliness and cost-effectiveness over conventional PCMs. Moreover, substantial technological advancements have been made referring to the incorporation of bPCMs in building envelops and TES applications; however, more studies are required on recyclable encapsulation and support materials. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review of research status and useful perspective in the paradigms of recycling, green building applications, and natural resources conservation corresponding to the bPCMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The environmental performance of PU-gypsum ceiling tile and standard gypsum ceiling tile has been investigated. • Several forms of environmental impact have been analysed. • A comparative cradle-to-grave LCA of two gypsum ceiling tiles has been carried out, the PU-gypsum ceiling tile having better results. • The LCA includes the production and construction phases, use and end of life, the production stage being the main contributor to the environmental impact. In this paper, the LCA of two gypsum ceiling tiles is compared, the first one is a traditional gypsum tile and the second is a new eco ceiling tile in which polyurethane foam waste has been incorporated. Both tiles were made at one of the largest gypsum tile factories in Europe. The life cycle assessment has been considered from cradle to grave for which the corresponding production stages have been defined. This includes the extraction and transportation of raw materials, the manufacturing process, transportation to the client, the use of the product and the end of its useful life. The results show that the tile with polyurethane has a better environmental performance than the standard commercial ceiling tile. This is quantified as a 14% reduction in energy consumption, a 14% reduction in CO 2 emissions and a 25% reduction in water consumption compared with the standard tile, all the while maintaining the technical performance. An analysis of the results suggests that the new eco product has a competitive advantage on the market thanks to its environmental improvements and good technical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]