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Building material ecology

EI disposal indicator

The disposal indicator was prepared by the IBO for the uniform assessment of the disposal properties of construction and materials at building level.
In the semi-quantitative method, the current disposal route of a component or the recycling potential that would be possible from an economic and technical point of view if the framework conditions were improved up to the assumed point in time of disposal of the construction product are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5. The higher the expenditure for dismantling and recycling and the more negative the effects of disposal are on the environment, the worse the classification at building material level (similar to a five-part grading scale). The disposal indicator plays an important role in the climate-active building evaluation programmes Building and Renovation and Total Quality Building (TQB).

Changes to the EI indicator 10

Like its predecessor EI (EI V1.0, 2012), the disposal indicator EI10 (EI10 V2.0, 2018) represents the volume of all considered component constructions and component layers, weighted by disposal and recycling properties, that occur in the overall life cycle of a building. This means that the building materials arising for disposal from replacement and renewal cycles (over 100 years) are also recorded.

5 important changes compared to the older version:

  1. The value range of the disposal indicator at building level: The results have been increased by a factor of 10 compared to the older version, from which the new name EI10 is derived. The rating is on a scale of 20 to 45, 20 being the best result at BG3 level. Thus also a clear and differentiated separation of the updated calculation method is ensured in relation to the older one (evaluation scale: 1.0 to 5.0 on building level).
  2. The disposal and recycling classifications as well as the useful lives of individual building materials, depending on the type of installation: Among other things, the useful life of composite thermal insulation systems was reduced to 35 years, and a greater differentiation was made for floor coverings and sealing membranes. The theoretical technical service life of individual building products was thus adjusted to the actual service life.
  3. The reference value at building level: Instead of the total construction area, the sum of all exterior component areas considered in the balance limit plus 25 % of all interior component areas considered is now used.
  4. The fraction number reduction: not applicable.
  5. What is new is that windows and doors are included.

The new indicator EI10 can be calculated together with the eco-index OI3 without additional data acquisition, with the online tool eco2soft of the baubook platform, where it can be simplified at building level either in balance limit 1 (BG1) or detailed for the entire building in balance limit 3 (BG3).