Embodied energy of common and alternative building materials and technologies (original) (raw)
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IJMTER-2016, All rights Reserved Embodied Energy Of Building And Alternative Building Materials
Considerable amount of energy is spent in the manufacturing processes and transportation of various building materials. Conservation of energy becomes important in the context of limiting of greenhouse gases emission into the atmosphere and reducing costs of materials. The paper is focused around some issues pertaining to embodied energy in buildings particularly in the Indian context. Energy consumption in the production of basic building materials (such as cement, steel, etc.) and different types of materials used for construction has been discussed. Energy spent in transportation of various building materials is presented. A comparison of energy in different types of masonry has been made. Energy in different types of alternative roofing systems has been discussed and compared with the energy of conventional reinforced concrete (RC) slab roof. Total embodied energy of a multi-storeyed building, a load bearing brickwork building and a soil–cement block building using alternative building materials has been compared. It has been shown that total embodied energy of load bearing masonry buildings can be reduced by 50% when energy efficient/alternative building materials are used.
Journal of The Institution of Engineers (India): Series A, 2014
Building sector is responsible for 40 % of the primary energy use and 24 % of carbon dioxide emissions in India. The main source of green house gas emissions from buildings is due to energy consumption. This paper aims to assess the embodied energy index and environmental impact of a two storied residential building. The study proposes various alternative materials which can be used in day to day construction in order to mitigate the environmental impact and climate change due to construction activity in India. Two types of construction techniques have been considered for the study, namely load bearing and reinforced concrete framed construction. Embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions of walling and roofing components using conventional and alternative materials has also been analyzed and compared. The comparison is done based on two parameters namely, embodied energy/m 2 and CO 2 emissions per unit of floor area. The study shows that bricks, cement and steel are the three major contributors to the energy cost of constructing a building by conventional methods. A conventional two storied load bearing structure is 22 % more energy efficient when compared to a reinforced concrete structure. It has also been observed from the study that use of alternative material in the building envelope gives embodied energy savings between 50 and 60 % for a two storey load bearing structure and 30-42 % for a two storey reinforced concrete structure. Hence a load bearing construction is certainly a better alternative to RC framed construction for up to two storied structures in terms of embodied energy and environmental impacts.
Choices of material specification and construction methods can significantly change the amount of energy embodied in a building, as embodied energy content varies enormously among products and materials. Assessing the embodied energy of a material, component or whole building is often a critical and complex in nature as it dependent on architectural detailing, space-use specific specifications and available local materials and local technical know-how. The researchers are mostly focused on reducing the operational energy of the buildings because clients and users demand direct and visible energy savings. This paper deals Material efficiency in embodied energy considerations is emphasized as an important aspect of sustainable building, as indicated by the inclusion of the new basic requirement for sustainable use of resources with locally workable options to save embodied energy and energy cost for residential building as this land-use in general covers 45 to 50% of the land use in cities and Master Plans. According to the researchers, most of the buildings embodied energy relates to the structural system specifications (24%) and envelope design considerations (26%)... The option III of case III shows the maximum reduction of 52.29% in embodied energy (1.87XGJ/m2) as compared to all. The cost estimate of building materials also shows the reduction in the tune of 27.83% with respect (Rs.8934.65 per m2) to option I of Case II. The option II of the case I show the reduction of 32.91% in embodied energy (2.63XGJ/m2) and 25.73% in cost estimate (Rs.9,194.63 per m2) with respect to option I of Case II. The option III of case III indicates that the proper integrated use of alternative and low-cost technologies such filler slabs fly ash bricks in the foundation, hollow blocks of masonry and Mud chaska terracing not only reduces the embodied energy content but also reduces the unit cost of plinth area. The global warming and greenhouse gas emissions are among the biggest global problems on which material efficiency has a direct influence, so it is essential to land crucial to identify the appropriate material for the relevant component of the building to save the energy.
Energy Procedia, 2012
Nearly two million residential building are built annually in India apart from the offices, commercial and industrial buildings with demand and supply which is increasing year by year. It is essential to conserve the conventional energy by developing energy efficient buildings. Environmental quality and conservation of fossil fuels may become important in the context of limiting of GHGs emission and also reducing cost of materials. The most important stages from point of view of energy intensity: (a) Raw material acquisition; (b) Preparation & Manufacturing ;(c) Transportation But this paper broadly considered to analyze the first two parts as the third part of transportation energy vary from location to location, however it has been emphasized in the literature that 1 MJ/ tonne /km (diesel) for transporting materials can be integrated for location specific analysis. Besides, Energy estimates given in the literature for various materials such as the Cement 5.85MJ/kg, lime 5.62MJ/kg, LP 2.33MJ/kg (lime 30%, Pozzolana 60% and 10%calcined gypsum), steel 42MJ/kg, Al 236.8MJ/kg, Glass 25.8Mj/kg, Burnt clay brick 4.25MJ, Hollow block 12.3-15MJ, etc have been considered for energy appraisal. It is focused on some issues pertaining to Embodied Energy savings by identifying a few appropriate options for important building components and a comparison of energy in different types of roof and terracing has been made. Energy in different options of alternative systems have been discussed and compared with the energy consumed in conventional specifications to appreciate the consumption of energy in various materials for selection of appropriate materials with reference to energy savings and sustainable development.
Open Journal of Energy Efficiency
In the urban residential building stock, a major proportion is constituted by low-rise individual buildings. In addition to cost, quality and duration, energy consumed for the project needs to be accounted in the decision making process. Minimizing the cost of construction without compromising on the architectural and structural requirements is the primary objective of the residential buildings of stake-holders, especially the owners. The choice of structural system and the materials used for construction play a crucial role in this effort. This means that the use of expensive and/or voluminous materials such as cement, steel, masonry etc. is optimized. This could lead to significant reduction in embodied energy as well, if the choice of the structural system is prudently made. In this paper, an attempt has been made to quantify the cost and embodied energy benefits for a low-rise residential building by choosing two different structural systems, namely moment resisting framed (MRF) construction system and the partly load-bearing (PLB) system. The influence of choice of materials, contributing to reduction of cost and/or energy is discussed. It is clearly noticed that, when the structural system is re-configured as a PLB system from the existing MRF system there is significant reduction in cost and embodied energy without changing the architectural form.
Embodied energy analysis of multi-storied residential buildings in urban India
WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 2011
Today developing nations are witnessing an unprecedented pace of urbanization in the wake of industrialization and globalization. This is giving rise to an ever increasing demand for housing and infrastructure to support the growing population and its activities. Energy is the single-most significant driver of this urban development and buildings stand as the most visible expressions of this development. However, buildings are known to be highly energy intensive and considering energy supply from conventional sources, these buildings have substantial negative environmental impacts. While operational energy of buildings have been mapped and assessed for different building typologies and various climatic zones, the embodied energy captive in the building fabric has received relatively lesser attention. Thus, efforts towards energy management and conservation in building operations have sufficiently addressed the concerns and have been reflected in the many building-rating systems prevailing across the world, though there had been limited research in the field of embodied energy measurement of contemporary multi-storied residential buildings constructed with modern technology. This assumes more significance in view of today's energy constrained world where exhaustive database on energy expended through all possible avenues need to be recorded in order to optimize and regulate this capital energy component of the building industry. In this backdrop, the present paper discusses the process and results of embodied energy analysis of one such typical multi-storied residential apartment of steel reinforced concrete construction in the metropolitan city of Calcutta (now Kolkata) in India and compares it with reported findings of some similar researches in Japan and India.
A substantial amount of energy is spent in the manufacturing processes and transportation of various building materials. Conservation of energy becomes very important in the context of limiting greenhouse gas emission into the atmosphere. Selection of materials and technologies, in building construction, should not only satisfy the felt needs of the users and the development needs of the society but also minimize the adverse impact on the environment. This paper documents, on a comparative basis, the savings in embodied energy of walling and roofing systems using hollow clay blocks. It analyses and highlights the savings in the embodied energy in relation to conventional walling and roofing in residential designs, in the Indian urban context. Case studies of 20 projects which were designed and executed by the first author from 1989 to 2006 have been examined. This research was done at the RV College of Architecture, Bengaluru, between 2008 and 2014, when both the authors were serving the institution.
Engineering Proceedings, 2021
The energy demand of developing countries increases every year. Large amounts of energy are consumed during the production and transportation of construction materials. Conservation of energy became important in the perspective of limiting carbon emissions into the environment and for decreasing the cost of materials. This article is concentrated on some issues affecting the embodied energy of construction materials mainly in the residential sector. Energy consumption in three various wall structures has been made. The comparison demonstrated that the embodied energy of traditional wall structures is 3-times higher than the energy efficient building materials. CO2 emissions produced by conventional materials and green building materials are 54.96 Kg CO2/m2 and 35.33 Kg CO2/m2, respectively. Finally, the results revealed substantial difference in embodied energy and carbon footprints of materials for which its production involves a high amount of energy consumption.
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering518 (2019) 022031, 2019
During the last decades many structural building systems were implemented in multi-story buildings production. Each of these systems consumes energy and produce carbon emissions from the early stage from the extraction of materials to the construction of a building. The selection of structural building systems with low embodied energy and carbon emissions reduces the impact of buildings on the global environment. The purpose of this research is to make a comparison in embodied energy consumption and carbon emissions between the most conventional building structural systems for multi-story building in Iraq. Through examine different solutions for structural building systems. This research aims to identify the most efficient structural building systems and materials in embodied energy consumption and carbon emissions for multi-story buildings in Iraq. Results demonstrated that the building of reinforced concrete structure has provided better results and consumed less embodied the energy and carbon emissions, as compared to the precast concrete and steel structural building systems. 1. Introduction Several recent studies have attempted to test the energy efficiency, carbon emissions in structural buildings systems and materials. Kumar et al. [1] had studied the energy efficiency for two different structural materials for small buildings samples (fire clay bricks and ash blocks) and the results for the study showed that ash blocks reduce energy for that used cooling the building. Jayasinghe [2] has studied the effect of different building materials on energy consumption from product of the material to the use and operation, this study compare between conventional and alternative building material, and also between systems of building. The result of this study appears that the alternative building and systems material have lower energy consumption according to conventional types. Bribian et al. [3] compared of life cycle assessment between common building material (Steel, aluminum, copper, PVC and glass), and recently sustainable materials (Brick and tiles, insulation materials, cement and concrete, wood products) in their energy and water consumption. The aim was to develop the guideline of selection materials for new buildings and rehabilitation of existing buildings. Lee et al. [4] have studied the impact of different building materials on the energy consumption, the results showed that concrete structure is more significant in embodied energy than that of the steel or the hybrid structure. From the review of recent researches, it can be concluded that research problem is no obvious study that compares in embodied energy consumption and carbon emissions between the most conventional building structural systems for multi-story building in Iraq. So, the research hypothesis is that "structural building systems have an effect on reducing embodied energy consumption and carbon emissions".