Publications by Cynthia Houmani

Strategies for a Circular Economy in the Construction and Demolition Sector: Identifying the Factors Affecting the Recommendation of Recycled Concrete

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Ivo Philippe Baur, Valeria Superti, Ralph Hansmann, Cynthia Houmani

With increasing urbanisation, new approaches such as the Circular Economy (CE) are needed to reduce resource consumption. In Switzerland, Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste accounts for the largest portion of waste (84%). Beyond limiting the depletion o ...

2021

A systemic framework to categorize Circular Economy interventions: An application to the construction and demolition sector

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Valeria Superti, Cynthia Houmani

The Circular Economy (CE) concept has recently gained momentum as a perspective to tackle global challenges such as resource scarcity and waste management. Multiple types of interventions have been proposed to support the transition towards a CE. This pape ...

2021

Recycling Thermal Insulation Materials: A Case Study on More Circular Management of Expanded Polystyrene and Stonewool in Switzerland and Research Agenda

Valeria Superti, Cynthia Houmani

The limits to linear models of production based on material extraction, manufacture, use, and disposal are becoming increasingly apparent across the global economy. The Circular Economy (CE) describes an alternative to this problematic "take-make-waste " l ...

2021

Local climate impact on the energy demand: an analysis at the European scale

Jean-Louis Scartezzini, Silvia Coccolo, Dasaraden Mauree, Amarasinghage Tharindu Dasun Perera, Cynthia Houmani, Ismaël Krafess

A reduction by 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions as well as a similar decrease for the final energy consumption is needed to respect the energy strategies and climate objectives at the European scale. To address this issue, we analysed the energy demand ...

IOP Science2019

Urban greening archetypes at the European scale

Jean-Louis Scartezzini, Dasaraden Mauree, Silvia Coccolo, Amarasinghage Tharindu Dasun Perera, Nahid Mohajeri Pour Rayeni, Cynthia Houmani, Ismaël Krafess

Urban greening has great ecological, social and economic benefits for the built environment. It also has significant impacts on the microclimate and urban energy balance. In this study, we quantify the impacts of urban greening on the ground surface temper ...

IOP Science2019