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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/S006079/1
Title: Assessing Material Efficiency and Impacts in Buildings (AMEIB)
Principal Investigator: Myers, Dr RJ
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Gray Organschi Achitecture
Department: Sch of Engineering
Organisation: University of Edinburgh
Scheme: New Investigator Award
Starts: 01 January 2019 Ends: 29 September 2019 Value (£): 326,180
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Civil Engineering Materials Construction Ops & Management
Waste Management
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Construction
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
07 Aug 2018 Engineering Prioritisation Panel Meeting 7 and 8 August 2018 Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
The construction industry remains locked onto an unsustainable trajectory of runaway environmental impacts unless it rapidly transforms the materials it produces and uses. Cement production may alone comprise a third of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions by 2050, up from ~8% today. Construction materials (cement, concrete, bricks, steel, etc.) are mainly used in buildings.

This project - Assessing Materials Efficiency and Impacts in Buildings (AMEIB) - addresses this challenge to sustainably transform materials use in the built environment, focusing on buildings and all major construction materials. AMEIB will develop a novel multiscale material flow impact analysis (MFIA) algorithm that directly and quantitatively integrates resource availability, industrial ecology, and materials science. Applications of the MFIA algorithm will identify scenarios and materials that approach maximal efficiency and minimal life cycle environment impacts (e.g., CO2 emissions) in buildings, across the UK. These results will benchmark the extent to which impacts related to buildings can be reduced through materials efficiency measures, providing guidance to policymakers, low impact technologies for industry, and research targets for materials scientists.

The novel systems and materials uncovered by AMEIB will pioneer the 'materials efficient city'. AMEIB lays the foundation for follow-up work to apply this MFIA approach globally and also across all industrial sectors. Therefore, AMEIB provides a significant step towards holistic analysis and implementation of materials efficiency in the built environment, rational management of industry-wide resource use and impacts, and also 'sustainable urban development'.

Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Summary
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Organisation Website: http://www.ed.ac.uk