BuildENVIRONMENT!

Niko Heeren

Dr. Niko Heeren

Dr. Niko Heeren

Environmental & Data Scientist

About

I am an Adjunct Professor for Industrial Ecology at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology NTNU, a lecturer for Prospective Environmental Assessment at ETH Zurich, and a project manager for Sustainable Construction at the city of Zurich. Furthermore, I am an Associate Editor for Data at the Journal of Industrial Ecology.

My research focuses on the analysis and forecast of environmental impacts of socio-economic systems, such as building stocks. In my work I often combine methods and tools from the environmental and computational science disciplines to develop, for instance, probabilistic approaches for big data analysis.

Education

  • Doctor of Sciences in Environmental Engineering, 2017

    ETH Zurich

  • MSc ClimaDesign, 2011

    TU Munich

  • MAS Architecture & Développement Durable, 2008

    EPF Lausanne

  • BSc Environmental & Resource Management, 2006

    TU Cottbus

Skills

Building & Building stocks Analysis

Thermal simulation, BIM, certification, etc.

Open Sustainability Science

Research & Teaching in Industrial Ecology, LCA, MFA, etc.

Computer modelling

Python, SQL, GIS, Big data, etc.

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Adjunct Professor

Norwegian University of Science & Technology NTNU

Jan 2020 – Present Trondheim, Norway
 
 
 
 
 

Project Manager Sustainable Construction

City of Zurich

Jan 2020 – Present Zurich, Switzerland
 
 
 
 
 

Postdoctoral Associate

Yale University, Center for Industrial Ecology

Jan 2018 – Oct 2019 New Haven, USA
 
 
 
 
 

Lecturer

ETH Zurich

Jan 2017 – Present Zurich, Switzerland
 
 
 
 
 

Postdoctoral Researcher

ETH Zurich

Jan 2017 – Dec 2018 Zurich, Switzerland
Chair of Ecological System Design and Chair of Sustainable Construction
 
 
 
 
 

PhD Student

ETH Zurich, Chair of Ecological System Design, Institute of Environmental Engineering

Mar 2012 – Dec 2016 Zurich, Switzerland
 
 
 
 
 

Teacher & Consultant in Building Simulation and Certification

E4tech Software Ltd. (Lesosai)

Jan 2010 – Dec 2019 Lausanne, Switzerland
 
 
 
 
 

Research Assistant

ETH Zurich, Chair of Sustainable Construction, Institute of Construction & Infrastructure Management

Mar 2008 – Feb 2012 Zurich, Switzerland
 
 
 
 
 

Guest Lecturer

École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Strasbourg

Mar 2008 – Jun 2010 Strasbourg, France

Blog

Updates, thoughts, and rants

End of 2019 IEDC Update

Yes – data science is hard, especially in the Industrial Ecology domain. Therefore, we launched the Industrial Ecology Data Commons (IEDC) earlier this year. It allows researcher to quickly download data from important Industrial Ecology research papers. In a final update for this year, we uploaded another 10+ datasets to the Industrial Ecology Data Commons (IEDC) server. With that update, the database now holds approximately 1.1 million data points from more than 180 datasets.
Dec 18, 2019 1 min read

Projects

More info on projects coming soon

Resource Efficiency & Climate Change

Mandated by the G7 and United Nations International Resource Panel (UNEP-IRP) , we are investigating the potential benefits of Resource Efficiency for future greenhouse gas emissions. Project ends 2019. Find related content and publications here.

Swiss National Science Foundation NRP 66 Resource Wood

In 2010 the Swiss National Science Foundation launched athe National Research Programme 66 to investigate the potentials of wood as a national resource. The team led by Prof. Hellweg investigated the ecological implications of wood use. The project had a budget of 1 million Swiss Francs and brought forward three PhDs. I was lucky enough to be one of those PhD students and my project looked into the ecological potentials of wood use in buildings.

Featured Publications

Browse all publications here 🔍


Technologies and policies to decarbonize global industry: Review and assessment of mitigation drivers through 2070

Fully decarbonizing global industry is essential to achieving climate stabilization, and reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by …
PDF DOI

Resource Efficiency and Climate Change: Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future

Full report and more details follow soon. This report was developed by the IRP in response to a request by leaders of the Group of 7 nations in the context of efforts to promote resource efficiency as a core element of sustainable development. It conducts a rigorous assessment of the contribution of material efficiency to GHG abatement strategies. More concretely, it assesses the reduction potential of GHG emissions from material efficiency strategies applied in residential buildings and light duty vehicles, and reviews policies that address these strategies.
PDF Code Project DOI

Bridging the gap: enhancing material efficiency in residential buildings and cars

Research has shown that demand-side material efficiency offers substantial GHG mitigation opportunities that are complementary to those …
Project

A Database Seed for a Community-driven Material Intensity Research Platform

The data record contains Material Intensity data for buildings (MI). MI coefficients are often used for different types of analysis of …
PDF Code DOI

Tracking Construction Material over Space and Time: Prospective and Geo-referenced Modeling of Building Stocks and Construction Material Flows

Construction material plays an increasingly important role in the environmental impacts of buildings. In order to investigate impacts …
PDF DOI

Topics

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Architecture BEEM-UP project Big data Biomass BIPV Building physics Building stock Carbon budget Carbon strorage Cement China Circular Economy Code Collaboration Criticality Data Data Science Dynamics Energy Europe Food German GHG GIS Greenhouse Household Industrial Ecology Industry Infrastructure LCA Lighting Material Material-Energy Nexus MFA Model NRP 73 project NRP66 project Open Access Open Science PhD Probabilistic Prospective Publishing PV RECC project Recycling Renewable Energy Report Resource Efficiency Retrofit Review Simulation Software Switzerland Transport United Nations Urban Wood ZEB