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Better construction and use of buildings in the European Union would influence 42% of final energy consumption, about 35% of our greenhouse gas emissions and more than 50% of all extracted materials. It could also help to save up to 30% of water consumption. This paper outlines and draws conclusions about different aspects of the material efficiency of buildings and assesses the significance of different building materials on the material efficiency. The research uses an extensive literature study and a case-study in order to assess: should the depletion of materials be ignored in the environmental or sustainability assessment of buildings, are the related effects on land use, energy use and/or harmful emissions significant, should related indicators (such as GHGs) be used to indicate the material efficiency of buildings, and what is the significance of scarce materials, compared to the use of other building materials. This research suggests that the material efficiency should focus on the significant global impacts of material efficiency; not on the individual factors of it. At present global warming and greenhouse gas emissions are among the biggest global problems on which material efficiency has a direct impact on. Therefore, this paper suggests that greenhouse gas emissions could be used as an indicator for material efficiency in building.

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The objective of the research was to create improved understanding of the significance of diverse factors for the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of buildings. The specific focus of the study was on the assessment of the significance of building materials and embodied carbon. The scope of the study covers multi-storey residential buildings in Finland. This research was based on a literature survey and supported by a parametric case study. The parametric study assessed the building-material-related GHG emissions relative to total GHG emissions and the possible range of variation. The research assesses the minimum and maximum GHG emissions for production of buildings with similar spaces, to reveal the likely range of variation for the emissions. The calculations for the 'minimum' and 'maximum' scenarios assume a similar purpose of use, occupancy and spaces in the building, while the production methods, materials, site conditions and location are varied. The research also assesses the relative importance of various building components and other calculation parameters in terms of GHGs. Total material-related GHG emissions were compared with the GHG emissions caused by the operation of the building, at three distinct levels of energy performance. In addition, the material-and operation-related GHG emissions were compared with the location-related GHG emissions arising from people's mobility.

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