Ressources

In Denmark the construction industry accounts for 40% of society’s energy consumption, 35% of material consumption, 30% of waste production and 8% of the gross domestic product.

Construction is one of the biggest drivers in society’s management of resources. Architecture and planning aim to generate as much value as possible for the resources invested in the building to ensure that buildings and cities can create better quality of life, health, learning and productivity.

Resource consumption can be reduced significantly: New Danish buildings are among the most energy-efficient in the world, but there are still challenges with regard to reducing the energy consumption of existing buildings. If we take the opportunity to improve energy efficiency when making alterations, it is possible to create new attractive spaces and a better, healthier indoor climate. Seen from a lifecycle perspective, material consumption accounts for 10-50% of the environmental impacts compared to energy consumption, depending on how energy-efficient the building is. This can be reduced significantly by including recycling and circular economy in the considerations.

Below, you can see various examples of Danish architecture that reduces resource consumption in buildings.