Everybody talks about energy-efficient building and retrofitting. The environmental performance of building materials and components, however, is often forgotten, which includes the environmental impacts across the entire life cycle from resource extraction to manufacture, use, reuse, recycling, and finally disposal. In addition to the basics, this course module also provides an overview of the “certification jungle” of available certification marks, green labels, building performance certificates, databases, software, and other tools.
There are different options on how to preserve wood: we either combine knowledge with nontoxic or low-toxic treatments, or we use aggressive toxic chemical treatments. Especially building biology professionals require sound knowledge in this subject area to be able to prevail against the lobbying interests of profit-hungry pest controllers or commonly held misconceptions and half-truths. This also applies to the identification and treatment of house pests such as insects and rodents.
Building materials form the “third skin” of humans. It largely
depends on the selection of building materials as to whether a
building provides a comfortable indoor climate and whether it is
healthy, energy-efficient, and ecological. This course provides
an overview of all the properties of building materials that are
important from a building biology perspective.
A lack of knowledge in the area of building science can result in
major building damage. Therefore, this course module also
introduces basic building science concepts that all students
should understand so that, later in the field, they will know in
which situations it is important to consult an expert.
There is no need to memorize equations. The course module can
serve as a reference as needed.