Grantee Research Project Results

ID-REUSE (platform  of existing buildings for salvageable / reusable products and materials, prior to renovation, demolition, and deconstruction)

EPA Contract Number: 68HERC24C0028
Title: ID-REUSE (platform  of existing buildings for salvageable / reusable products and materials, prior to renovation, demolition, and deconstruction)
Investigators: Guy, George
Small Business: Material Reuse LLC
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: I
Project Period: December 1, 2023 through May 30, 2024
Project Amount: $99,940
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase I (2024) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

Description:

The ID-REUSE platform will provide a time-efficient and robust assessment of existing buildings for salvageable / reusable products and materials, prior to renovation, demolition, and deconstruction. Its innovation will be to build upon expert methods that have been developed for static forms and spreadsheets, combine these with visual and data technologies, and provide a digital database that can be integrated with marketing and reporting. The developers of the ID-REUSE platform created a desk-top assessment tool over twenty {20) years ago called "Building Deconstruction Assessment Tool" and provided inputs into the "Deconstruction Rapid Assessment Tool" developed by US EPA Region 5 ten {10) years ago. In addition, academic research has been conducted in the US and in Europe for assessment methods, however the problem with these efforts is that they require extremely sophisticated and expensive software and scanning tools, require high-skill, and are very labor intensive. Salvage assessments need to be commensurate with the time-pressures, and potential for salvage-value, relative to real-world building project contracting and delivery. The ID-REUSE will be user-friendly within the Architecture, Engineering, Construction {AEC) profession and for government agencies - whilst serving multiple-functions when linked to data-sharing systems for marketing, inventory, and reporting.

 

There are ~310,000 buildings demolished in the US each year. Climate-based disasters impact in-place buildings and will necessitate mitigation demolitions. An increasing number of local governments are requiring salvage assessments and deconstruction plans.

The residential renovation market is estimated at ~$485 billion per year and the commercial renovation market is estimated at ~

$50 billion annually. The Alabama Center for Real Estate has estimated that the adaptive reuse market will double as a share of construction activity from 2 to 4% in the next 2-3 years. ID-REUSE platform will be able to serve government agencies, insurance companies, building owners, demolition and deconstruction firms, and to increase the end-market for reclaimed materials in support of a circular economy. The current estimate of greenhouse gas reduction by the approximately 1,500 reused building materials centers in the US {including reclaimed lumber) is 880,000 MTCO2e net benefit per year. This benefit results from a 0.5% reuse-rate of annual US C&D waste generation. An increase to an 1% reuse-rate of C&D generated in the US annually would result in ~1.7 million MT CO2e reduction. According to the US EPA, this is the annual equivalent of 214,000 homes' energy consumption, and the carbon sequestration of 2 million acres of US forests.

Progress and Final Reports:

Final Report