Work

Bottom-up and top-down modelling of building material flows: a case study from Austria

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Material flows of buildings should be modelled by bottom-up and top-down approaches for validation purposes, but only few studies aimed to do so. Using the case of Austria 2022, this study modelled building material stocks by bottom-up and building material flows by bottom-up and top-down. Results were compared to each other and to other studies. Bottom-up results in this study match well with the bottom-up study of Alaux but differ from the bottom-up studies of Haberl, Lotz, and Boecher, presumably due to different reference values used. Moreover, top-down input and output material flows in this study were 38% and 28% higher than the bottom-up, respectively. This gap, which likely origins from material intensity data and unaccounted renovation activities, should be closed by improving the datasets used. By disaggregating national top-down data to federal states or districts, the gap between bottom-up and top-down can be closed, also at lower administrative levels.

Source: Resources Conservation and Recycling

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2026.108941

Authors: Jakob Lederer, Tobias Walk, Michael Scsepka, Dominik Blasenbauer

Institutions: TU Wien, Fraunhofer Austria

Language: English

Topic: Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis

Subfield: Environmental Engineering

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Sustainable cities and communities, Climate action

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $5,270