Green Construction Materials (original) (raw)

Green Building Materials and their common use in everyday life

Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from sitting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. This practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. Green building practices aim to reduce the environmental impact of buildings, and the very first rule is, do not build in sprawl (spreading in disordered fashion). No matter how much grass you put on your roof, no matter how many energy-efficient windows, etc., you use, if you build in sprawl, you've just defeated your purpose. Buildings account for a large amount of land. The International Energy Agency released a publication that estimated that existing buildings are responsible for more than 40% of the world’s total primary energy consumption and for 24% of global carbon dioxide emissions. The concept of sustainable development can be traced to the energy (especially fossil oil) crisis and the environment pollution concern in the 1970s. The green building movement originated from the need and desire for more energy efficient and environmentally friendly construction practices. There are a number of motives to building green, including environmental, economic, and social benefits. However, modern sustainability initiatives call for an integrated and synergistic design to both new construction and in the retrofitting of an existing structure. Also known as sustainable design, this approach integrates the building life-cycle with each green practice employed with a design-purpose to create a synergy amongst the practices used. Green building brings together a vast array of practices and techniques to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and human health. It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources, e.g., using sunlight through passive solar, active solar, and photovoltaic techniques and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and for reduction of rainwater run-off. Many other techniques, such as using packed gravel or permeable concrete instead of conventional concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of ground water, are used as well. Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy consumption – both the embodied energy required to extract, process, transport and install building materials and operating energy to provide services such as heating and power for equipment. To reduce operating energy use, high-efficiency windows and insulation in walls, ceilings, and floors increase the efficiency of the building envelope, (the barrier between conditioned and unconditioned space). Another strategy, passive solar building design, is often implemented in low-energy homes. Designers orient windows and walls and place awnings, porches, and trees to shade windows and roofs during the summer while maximizing solar gain in the winter. In addition, effective window placement (day lighting) can provide more natural light and lessen the need for electric lighting during the day. Solar water heating further reduces energy costs.

Sustainable Materials in Building and Architecture

2016

Construction remains one of the most intensive material consumers. The primary factors driving future material growth include increased investment in the residential and commercial sectors, increased spending by governments in infrastructure, improving liquidity in the financial markets, a softening of interest rates and ongoing industrialisation in developing economies. The building material manufacturing and supply sector is in a state of transformation, driven in large part by regulations requiring environmentally friendly or ‘green ’ materials. The push for green products has spurred interest in bio-based materials, recycled materials, and the inclusion of waste materials. In addition, green building has raised performance requirements for buildings resulting in analysts forecasting a double-digit growth in green materials every year to 2013. From an environmental perspective, “green ” materials would be those materials with the least ‘embodied effects’, where the word embodied ...

MATERIALS FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION

The Industry of Construction is an activity that generates large negative impacts on the environment; therefore it is necessary and urgent to insert it within the scope and principles of Sustainable Construction. It is considered that the choice of materials (and the application of technologies in this effort) is done in the direction of the Sustainability of the Construction Industry.

GREEN BUILDINGS ARE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS

Green buildings are environmental sustainable buildings, designed such that they are eco-friendly in all ways. Green building practices aim to reduce the environmental impact of building. The first rule is that the greenest building is the building that doesn't get built. Since construction almost always degrades a building site, not building at all is preferable to green building, in terms of reducing environmental impact. The second rule is that every building should be as small as possible. The third rule is not to contribute to sprawl, even if the most energy-efficient, environmentally sound methods are used in design and construction. Buildings account for a large amount of land. According to the National Resources Inventory, approximately 107 million acres (430,000 km2) of land in the United States are developed. The international national agency released a publication that estimated that existing buildings are responsible for more than 40% of the world’s total primary energy consumption and for 24% of global carbon dioxide emissions. On the aesthetic side of green architecture or sustainable design is the philosophy of designing a building that is in harmony with the natural features and resources surrounding the site. Many other techniques are used, such as using low-impact building materials or using packed gravel or permeable concrete instead of conventional concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of ground water.

Materials and design in green building for sustainable constructions

2015

In this globalization era, sustainable constructions turn into the key to stimulate green building practice.One of the notable ways in practicing green building is through conservation of materials and resources and sustainable design of the building itself. Building materials and methods that are originally used have given rise to problems related to the environment and human’s health.In Malaysia, people are less aware about green building and they have minimum understanding and know-how about green materials and sustainable design.Therefore, this study aims to explore building materials and design employed in green buildings to achieve sustainability and to identify the benefits of utilizing green materials and sustainable design. This study was carried out using a case of construction sector in Malaysia.The data were collected via an interview with Eco World Development Sdn Bhd. The company utilizes materials like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for water and cable work installations, l...

Sustainable Architecture in Terms of Building Materials

Building materials are the single unit cell of a building and thus are the essential part of construction techniques. It encloses the spaces in a building or acts as an envelope for spaces in architecture. In today's scenario sustainable architecture is at its pace. Sustainable architecture does not only mean to plant trees or using vernacular materials, but it also means to use eco-friendly building materials since building materials are the first and most important part of a building. Life of a building is dependent on the material being used in that building. Therefore, selection of an eco-friendly material is a rapid step towards sustainable and eco-friendly built environment. Now what material could be ecofriendly? Truly saying materials that result in a more sustainable and affordable construction complying with the comfort standards required today can be termed as eco-friendly materials. So, rather making environment sustainable we could use materials that are sustainable, affordable, low energy consumption and can be recycled or reused easily. This paper deals with how green building materials can sustain our environment by reducing its impact on our mother earth, that could lessen the amount of environmental degradation, have consumes less energy, can be re-used in a building itself and the comparison between other man-made materials and their energy consumption that are presently in use.