MAEN5020 Environmental assessment of materials and components in buildings Course description

Climate change and increased focus on resource use and environmental impacts entail a greater focus on material selection and environmental assessment of building materials and components. The course emphasizes giving students an understanding of the mechanisms that are important in choosing environmentally friendly building materials and components to achieve a low-greenhouse gas body. The elective course is based on a theoretical basis on energy use and building physics from compulsory subject MAEN4200 / MAEND4200 Energy use and indoor climate. The elective is also theoretically related to the compulsory subject MAEN5200 / MAEND5200 Energy design and building physics, but the elective further develops theoretical and especially practical knowledge of building physical phenomena, material properties, sustainability assessments and life cycle analyzes of building materials. The elective course is initiated provided that a sufficient number of students choose the course.

No formal requirements over and above the admission requirements.

After completing this course, the student has defined the following learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence.

Knowledge The student

• has in-depth knowledge of environmental assessments of building engineering solutions
• has advanced insight into the properties of building materials and not least about emissions, energy requirements and CO2 emissions during production, as well as durability, lifetime and degradation processes.
• has specialized knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of building materials and about the optimal combination of different materials to maximize energy efficiency, sustainability and lifetime of building bodies and minimize greenhouse gas emissions
• has specialized knowledge of the challenges in the construction industry for the implementation of sustainable solutions

Skills The student can

• use analytical methods and criteria used for building physical and environmental assessments for the choice of building materials, building components and building engineering solutions
• identify and select relevant standards (national and international) and commercial methods (eg BREEAM) for assessing concrete construction projects
• make sensible and environmentally friendly choices of materials and components in buildings
• critically relate to various sources of information and use these to analyze the choice of materials in building design and relate them to complex phenomena that take place between building body and outdoor / indoor climate
• design building elements with a description of the materials and components included in the building body
• optimization of climate screen design using analysis results

General competence The student can

• identify relevant criteria to be included in environmental assessments for defined purposes
• conduct environmental assessments to optimize solutions in buildings
• contribute to innovation and innovation processes

The teaching will mainly consist of lectures, weekly voluntary exercises, inspection of the building site.

None

Individual written exam in three hours

Exam results can be appealed.

In the event of a new and postponed individual written examination, the oral examination form may be used. If an oral examination is used for a new and postponed examination, this cannot be appealed.

• Aids attached to the exam paper.
• Handheld calculator that does not communicate wireless. If the calculator has the possibility of storage in the internal memory, the memory must be deleted before the exam. Sampling can be done.

Graded scale A-F

An internal sensor. External censorship is used regularly.