SUSTAINABLE

CONSTRUCTION
Prepared by
Prof. Dr. Bayan Salim
 INTRODUCTION
 SUSTAINABLE / NONSUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION
PRACTICES
 BRICK / BLOCK MASONRY CONSTRUCTION
 CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION/
APPROACHES TO INCREASE SUSTAINABILITY
 STEEL CONSTRUCTION
 SUSTAINABLE STRUCTURAL DESIGN
 CHALLENGES AND RISKS

CONTENTS
 Sustainable development has been defined as development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs. (The United Nations)
 Sustainable construction: The application of sustainable development
principles to the construction sector, covers the entire value chain from raw
materials to construction products to buildings and housing.
 The aim of sustainable construction is to combine cost-effectiveness and
resource conservation, reduce environmental burden and address social aspects
at the same time.

INTRODUCTION
 Embodied energy is the sum total of energy consumed during the material’s life
cycle.
 In constructing buildings, vast quantities of earth’s resources are expended, and
significant portion of its environmental pollution is generated.
 Buildings account for 30 to 40 percent of the world’s energy consumption and
carbon dioxide gas (CO2) emissions.
 Building construction and operation cause many forms of environmental
degradation and place a heavy burden on the earth’s resources.

INTRODUCTION, Cont.
 consuming irreplaceable fossil fuels and other nonrenewable resources,
 building in sprawling urban patterns that cover extensive areas of prime
agricultural land,
 using destructive forestry practices that degrade natural ecosystems,
 allowing topsoil to be eroded by wind and water,
 generating substances that pollute water, soil, and air, and
 generating large amounts of waste materials

NON-SUSTAINABLE
CONSTRUCTION PRACTICE
 use less energy,
 consume fewer resources,
 cause less pollution of the air, water, and soil,
 reduce waste,
 discourage wasteful land development practices,
 contribute to the protection of natural environments and ecosystems,
 provide healthier interiors for building occupants, and
 minimize adverse social impacts.

SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS
PRACTICE
 Plants are usually located close to the sources of their raw materials.
 Produces few waste materials.
 Unfired clay is easily recycled into the production process.
 Fired bricks that are unusable are ground up and recycled into the production process
 Most bricks are sold for use in regional markets close to their point of manufacture.
However, unfavorable points may be that
 It requires relatively large amounts of water.
 Because of the energy used in its firing, its embodied energy may range from about (2.3–9.3
MJ/kg).
 Firing of clay masonry produces fluorine and chlorine emissions.

BRICK MASONRY: MANUFACTURING

 Mortar is made of minerals that are generally abundant in the earth.
 Clay, the raw materials for bricks, are plentiful.
 Clay brick can include recycled brick dust, postindustrial wastes such as fly
ash, and a variety of other waste products in their manufacture.

BRICK MASONRY : MATERIALS

 Relatively small amounts of waste are generated on a construction site. These wastes generally
go into landfills or are buried on site.
 Brick masonry is not normally associated with any indoor air quality problems.
 The thermal mass effect of brick masonry can be a useful component of energy-saving heating
and cooling.
 Brick masonry is a durable form of construction that requires little maintenance and can last a
very long time.
 Construction with brick masonry can reduce reliance on paint finishes, a source of volatile
organic compounds.
 Brick masonry is resistant to moisture damage and mold growth.
 When a brick building is demolished, sound bricks may be cleaned of mortar and reused.
 Brick waste can be crushed and used for landscaping. Brick and mortar waste can also be used
as on-site fill.

BRICK MASONRY: CONSTRUCTION/

BUILDING
 Concrete used in the manufacture of masonry units may include recycled materials
 Most concrete masonry units are manufactured in regional plants close to their final end-use
destinations.
 The use of lightweight concrete masonry reduces transportation-related costs and energy
consumption.
 Ordinary concrete masonry units have an embodied energy of approximately (0.6 MJ/kg).
 Relatively small amounts of waste are generated on a construction
 can be a useful component of fuel-saving heating and cooling strategies
 Concrete masonry are durable forms of construction that require little maintenance and can last a
very long time.
 When a building with concrete masonry is demolished, the masonry units can be crushed and
recycled for use as on-site fill or as aggregate for paving.

CONCRETE MASONRY
 The concrete industry is the largest user of natural resources in
the world
 Worldwide each year, the making of concrete consumes
1.5 billion metric tons of Portland cement,
9 billion metric tons of sand and rock, and
0.9 billion metric tons of water,
 The quarrying of the raw materials for concrete in open pits can result in soil
erosion, pollutant runoff, and habitat loss.
 Concrete construction also uses large quantities of other materials—wood,
wood panel products, steel, aluminum, plastics—for formwork and reinforcing.
 The total energy embodied in a kg of concrete varies, for average strength
concrete it ranges from 0.5 – 0.7 MJ/kg.
CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION
Precast Concrete
 Its embodied energy is higher than that of conventional concrete, falling in the
range of (1.1-1.4 MJ/kg).
 Encourages the reuse of formwork, reducing waste.
 Raw materials are used more efficiently, and less waste is produced.
 Optimized design of precast concrete results in elements that use less material.

PRECAST CONCRETE
 It is accounting for about 85 % of the total energy required in
concrete construction process.
 It is accounting for about 5 % of all CO2 gas generated by
human activities.
 Produces large amounts of air pollutants and dust.

PORTLAND CEMENT
 Substituting supplementary cementitious materials, including limestone
powder, fly ash, silica fume, and blast furnace slag, for up to half the Portland
cement in the concrete, can result in as much as a one-third reduction in
embodied energy of the concrete.
 Waste materials from other industries can also be used as cementing agents;
wood ash and rice-husk ash are two examples.
 Used motor oil and used rubber vehicle tires can be employed as fuel in
cement kilns.
 Technologies currently under development aim to significantly reduce carbon
dioxide emissions.

PORTLAND CEMENT
 Use waste materials from other industries, such as fly ash from power plants, slag from
iron furnaces, and others, as components of cement and concrete.
 Use concrete made from locally extracted materials and local processing plants to
reduce the transportation of construction materials over long distances.
 Minimize the use of materials for formwork and reinforcing.
 Reduce energy consumption, waste, and pollutant emissions from every step of the
process of concrete construction, from quarrying of raw materials through the eventual
demolition of a concrete building at the end of its useful life.

APPROACHES TO INCREASE THE

SUSTAINABILITY OF CONCRETE
CONSTRUCTION:
 Most structural steel is made from recycled scrap by the electric arc furnace process; its
embodied energy is approximately 9.3 MJ/kg, less than one-third that of steel made
from ore (33 MJ/kg).
 Steel fabrication and erection are clean, efficient processes, although the paints and oils
and protective coatings used on steel members can cause air pollution.
 Steel frames are lighter in weight than concrete frames that would do the same job. This
means that a steel building generally has smaller foundations and requires less
excavation work.
 Some spray-on fireproofing materials can pollute the air with stray fibers.
 Steel framing, if protected from water and fire, will last for many generations with little
or no maintenance.
 Steel exposed to weather must be repainted periodically unless it is galvanized, given a
long-lasting polymer coating, or made of more expensive stainless steel.
 When a steel building frame is demolished, its material is almost always recycled.

STEEL CONSTRUCTION
 Method 1.) Minimizing Material Use
 Method 2.) Minimizing Material Production Energy
 Method 3.) Minimizing Embodied Energy
 Method 4.) Life-Cycle Analysis/Inventory/Assessment
 Method 5.) Maximizing Structural System Reuse

SUSTAINABLE STRUCTURAL
DESIGN
 Does its manufacture depend on the extraction of nonrenewable resources, or
is it made from recycled or rapidly renewable materials?
 Is additional energy required to ship the material from a distant location, or is it
produced locally?
 Does the material contain toxic ingredients or generate unhealthful emissions,
or is it free of such concerns?

WHEN SELECTING A MATERIAL,

THE DESIGNER MUST ASK:
 Reformulated or entirely new materials may prove to be less
durable than those they replace.
 Products from unique sources may be susceptible to supply
shortages or price instability.
 Buildings constructed with more airtight enclosures may become
vulnerable to problems of indoor air quality.
 Green roofs may be more vulnerable to leakage, and if they do
leak, more expensive to repair.

CHALLENGES AND RISKS

 Inexperience with green building technologies may lead to design
or construction errors.
 Completed buildings may not meet the performance goals to
which they were designed.
 Uncertainties regarding the costs of green building design,
construction, or operation may create financial uncertainty for the
parties involved.

CHALLENGES AND RISKS

 Designers and builders must adequately educate themselves so
that they properly apply new technologies.
 The selection of green materials and systems must be done with
care, and without losing sight of traditional concerns such as
durability, practicality, and safety.
 The contractual agreements between designers, builders, and
owners must appropriately set expectations and fairly balance
risks.

TO MINIMIZE RISKS
THANKS FOR LISTENING