Green and sustainable materials in the built environment reuse

Today the construction sector is considered the largest contributor to climate change, producing about 39% of carbon dioxide emissions and 25% of solid waste globally. This happens because the construction industry still predominantly adopts a linear economic model, based on resource withdrawal - use - waste. The difficult environmental situation, therefore, requires the construction industry to identify design solutions capable of reducing resource consumption and waste generation with the assumption of the time horizon of the whole life cycle. It is essential to move to a circular economic (CE) model, that promotes a sustainable built environment with increased efficiency for construction resources and waste minimization at construction stage and end of life. This paper investigates these issues, proposing the sustainable and efficient reuse of the valuable built environment of the Italian territory through the use of dry construction systems and that of wood as a material to be integrated with existing structures. The advantages of using wood in rehabilitation interventions are not only structural and executive, but also environmental: in fact, it is a living material and can store CO2, reducing emissions. In addition, comparison with other production cycles reveals the low gray energy of this material, which also offers the advantage of renewability, being a biodegradable material that can be completely recycled at the end of its use. The paper presents a series of case studies related to minor historic centers located in the inland area of the Abruzzo Region, in central Italy.