UNIT IV ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF BUILDING MATERIALS

Impact of building materials- calculating embodied energy- impact of recycling, processing

and time on embodied energy- embodied energy of different building materials, carbon foot
printconsiderations for choice of materials for low energy- life cycle analysis- optimizing
construction, site management, post occupancy building management- Adaptive reuse,
Brown field site development, construction and demolition waste management

4.1 IMPACT OF BUILDING MATERIALS

The choice of building materials affects the environmental impact of a house. All building
materials are processed in some way before they can be incorporated into a building. The
processing may be minimal, as in the case of a traditional cottage constructed from materials found
locally, or it may be extensive, as in the case of prefabricated construction. This processing of
materials inevitably requires the use of energy and results in waste generation.

We can calculate the overall environmental impact of a house if we know the impacts that
result from its day-to-day use and the manufacture and delivery of its construction materials and
components. We can, with this information, see how the choice of materials affects its impact on
the environment.

Measuring The Environmental Impact Of Building Materials

When choosing materials several factors have to be considered, and it is unlikely that absolute rules
can be given for all situations. The first question is how environmental impact should be assessed.
This can be thought of as factors determined by the material‟s inherent qualities and as factors
affected by the way materials are incorporated into a design.
Factors determined by a material’s qualities are, for example:
• Energy required to produce the material;
• co2 emissions resulting from the material‟s manufacture;
• impact on the local environment resulting from the extraction of the material (e.g. Quarry pit,
wood taken from a forest, oil spills from an oil well, etc.);
• toxicity of the material; • transportation of the material during its manufacture and delivery to site;
• degree of pollution resulting from the material at the end of its useful life.
Factors affected by material choice and design decisions include:
• location and detailing of an architectural element;
• maintenance required and the materials necessary for that maintenance;
• contribution that the material makes to reducing the building‟s environmental impact (e.g.,
insulation);
• flexibility of a design to accommodate changing uses over time;
• lifetime of the material and its potential for reuse if the building is demolished.

•
The following headings for comparing the environmental impact of materials, used in the Green
Building Handbook (Woolley et al.,1997), provide a good checklist.
i. Environmental impact owing to production: vi. toxins.
ii. energy use; vii. Environmental impact owing to use:
iii. resource depletion; viii. potential for reuse/recyclingand disposal;
iv. global warming; ix. health hazard.
v. acid rain;
4.2 CALCULATING EMBODIED ENERGY

4.2a : Embodied Energy

Embodied energy is the total energy required for the extraction, processing, manufacture and
delivery of building materials to the building site. Energy consumption produces CO2, which
contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, so embodied energy is considered an indicator of the
overall environmental impact of building materials and systems.

4.2b : What is embodied energy?

There are two forms of embodied energy in buildings:

1.Initial embodied energy; and 2.Recurring embodied energy

The initial embodied energy in buildings represents the non-renewable energy consumed in the
acquisition of raw materials, their processing, manufacturing, transportation to site, and construction.
This initial embodied energy has two components:

Direct energy the energy used to transport building products to the site, and then to construct the
building; and

Indirect energy the energy used to acquire, process, and manufacture the building materials,
including any transportation related to these activities.

The recurring embodied energy in buildings represents the non-renewable energy consumed to
maintain, repair, restore, refurbish or replace materials, components or systems during the life of the
building.

As buildings become more energy-efficient, the ratio of embodied energy to lifetime

consumption increases. Clearly, for buildings claiming to be "zero-energy" or "autonomous", the
energy used in construction and final disposal takes on a new significance.

4.2c : Concept Of ‘Embodied Energy’

Perhaps the single most important measure of an object‟s environmental impact is provided
by the concept of „embodied energy‟. „Embodied energy‟ describes the amount of energy used to
produce an object. We can refer to the embodied energy of a brick, a window or of an entire house.

Embodied energy is an important measure because the use of non-renewable energy sources
is the principal reason for environmental degradation. Degradation is caused in two main ways: 1)
resulting from atmospheric emissions, principally CO2, contributing to global warming; 2) resulting
from the effects other emissions have on the atmosphere, such as acid rain. We can be fairly certain
that other effects are taking place that, as yet, remain unidentified.
 4.2c : Calculating Embodied Energy

The embodied energy is the energy requirement to construct and maintain the premises, for
example, with a brick wall, the energy required to make the bricks, transport them to site, lay them,
plaster them and (if necessary) paint and replaster over the life of the wall. Best practice would also
include energy calculations for demolition and recycling. A summary flowchart detailing the
elements required to estimate embodied energy is given in Figure 1.

How is embodied energy measured?

Embodied energy is measured as the quantity of non-renewable energy per unit of building
material, component or system. It is expressed in megajoules (MJ) or gigajoules (GJ) per unit
2
weight (kg or tonne) or area (m ) but the process of calculating embodied energy is complex and
involves numerous sources of data.

4.2d : What has been considered when calculating embodied energy?

Once one is clear about the energy measurement, it is important to know where the boundary has
been drawn in calculating the energy inputs.

Boundary conditions:

a) The cradle
The cradle is defined as the earth. It is used as the start of the boundary for embodied
carbon, carbon footprint and LCA assessments, i.e. the extraction of materials from the ground.
 b) Cradle to gate
Cradle to gate is a boundary condition associated with embodied carbon, carbon
footprint and LCA studies. A study to these boundaries considers all activities starting with the
extraction of materials from the earth (the cradle), their transportation, refining, processing and
fabrication activities until the material or product is ready to leave the factory gate.

c) Cradle to site
Cradle to site is a boundary condition associated with embodied carbon, carbon footprint
and LCA studies. A study to these boundaries includes the cradle to gate results and the
transportation of the material or product to its site of use.

d) Cradle to grave
Cradle to site is a boundary condition associated with embodied carbon, carbon footprint
and LCA studies. A study to these boundaries includes the cradle to site results but also includes
the GHG emissions associated with the in use of the material or product (maintenance) and the
end of life (disposal, reuse, recycling).
An accurate figure will be derived if we consider the energy used for extraction of raw
materials, transportation to processing plants, energy used in factories, transportation to site and
energy used on site to install the product.

e) Cradle to cradle
'Cradle to cradle' goes beyond 'cradle to grave' and conforms more to the model of the
circular economy. In a cradle to cradle model products would be designed in a way so that at the
end of their initial life they can be readily reused, or recycled, and therefore avoid landfill
altogether.

f) Embodied carbon
Embodied carbon may be defined as the carbon footprint of a material. It considers the
amount of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) that are released throughout a production supply
chain to produce a material or product. It is often measured with the boundaries of cradle to gate,
cradle to site, or cradle to grave. It considers all extraction, transport, processing and fabrication
activities of a material or product. Embodied carbon differers from a carbon footprint in that
embodied carbon can only be associated with materials or products, whereas a carbon footprint
could also measure the GHG emissions in the operation of a building, for example.

4.3 CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHOICE OF MATERIALS FOR LOW ENERGY

Materials are a finite resource. As the earth‟s population continues to increase, demand for a range
of goods and services e.g. housing, places of work, health services, education, cars, refrigerators,
and televisions will increase pressure on resources such as energy, water, steel, concrete, copper,
aluminium, plastic and many other materials. (Meadows, Randers & Meadows, 2004)

4.3a Priority for selecting building materials and products

There are three priorities in selecting building material for a project:

1. As with energy and water recourses, the primary emphasis should be on reducing the
quantity of material needed for construction.
 2. The second priority is to reuse materials and products from existing buildings; this is
relatively new strategy called deconstruction. Deconstruction is whole or partial
dismantling of existing buildings for the purpose of recovering components for reuse.

The third priority is to use products and materials that contains recycled content and that are
themselves recyclable or to use products and materials that made from renewable resources.
4.3 b : Green Building Material and Product Selection

Two Environmental Streams Categorizing Green Building Materials

There are two main streams to consider when selecting green materials associated with the
building and construction over a building‟s life cycle functions. Above figure broadly outlines the
two streams and their component parts.

The first stream is preservation of the earth‟s finite resources through more efficient
extraction, production and construction processes and by reducing waste. Using green building
materials and products promotes conservation of dwindling non-renewable resources. “Integrating
green building materials into building projects can help reduce the environmental impacts associated
with the extraction, transport, processing, fabrication, installation, reuse, recycling and disposal of
these building industry source materials.”

Examples of environmental impacts that can be calculated using LCA:

• Global warming (greenhouse effect) – that part of climate change caused by the emission of
greenhouse gases.
 • Ozone depletion – ozone helps reduce harmful levels of solar radiation reaching the earth‟s
surface. Ozone can be destroyed by the release of ozone-depleting substances.

• Acidification of land and water – release of acidifying pollutants such as sulphur dioxide,
nitrogen oxides and ammonia can contribute to this.

• Smog – can be aggravated

by release of volatile organic
compounds and carbon
monoxide.

Variants of LCA
The scope of LCA can extend to
various stages and processes in a
product/material‟s life.

Life cysle assessment in architecture:

1. Material/product level
2. Building level

LCA in the building industry can be thought of as operating at one of four levels. At the material
and product level, architects are likely to be consumers of LCA information, that is, they may use
this information to guide in their material and product selection process. At the building level,
architects may themselves be the LCA practitioners, using building-specific LCA tools to create
LCAs that characterize the environmental footprint of proposed projects.

1. Life Cycle Stages in Building Materials/Product level:

 . Life cycle stages in whole building level:

Building LCA, or whole-building LCA, where the product is the building. In this case, the architect
can be the LCA expert, as the architect understands how the building is constructed, how building
materials and products flow to the jobsite, and how the building is going to be operated over time.

The Life-Cycle Stages of a building are:

Materials Manufacturing: Removal of raw materials from earth, transportation of materials to the
manufacturing locations, manufacture of finished or intermediate materials, building product
fabrication, and packaging and distribution of building products

Construction: All activities relating to the actual building project construction

Use and Maintenance: Building operation including energy consumption, water usage,
environmental waste generation, repair and replacement of building assemblies and systems, and
transport and equipment use for repair and replacement

End of Life: Includes energy consumed and waste produced due to building demolition and disposal
of materials to landfills, and transport of waste materials. Recycling and reuse activities related to
demolition waste also can be included and have a “negative impact.”

4.6 OPTIMIZING CONSTRUCTION

In a simple explanation, optimization of building materials can be defined as the process meant to
achieve the best use of available materials, in order to make their use as useful and effective as
possible. In such a process, several factors are included to get the best optimized values. Such factors
must include the following items:
• availability of the material in discussion
• production costs
• local climatic conditions
• environment impact
• durability properties
• predicted service life based on LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) models
• materials transportation (whether locally or imported), and
• the related environmental impact.
4.8 POST OCCUPANCY BUILDING MANAGEMENT

Post occupancy evaluation (POE) is the process of evaluating a development to determine:

  How successful its delivery was.
  How successful the completed development is.
  Where there is potential for further improvement
 What lessons can be learned for future projects.

4.9 CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE MANAGEMENT

Construction and demolition (C and D) waste constitutes a major portion of total solid waste
production in the world. C and D waste is generated whenever any construction / demolition
activity takes place, such as building, roads, bridges, flyover, subway, remodeling etc. these wastes
are heavy, having high density, often bulky and occupy considerable storage space either on the
road or communal waste bin. It is not uncommon to see huge piles of such waste, which is heavy as
well, stacked on roads especially in large projects, resulting in traffic congestion and disruption. It
constitutes 10-20% of the municipal solid waste (excluding large construction projects). Hence
appropriate management of this waste is required.
 4.10a : Characteristics

This category of waste is complex due to the different types of building materials being used, but
in general may comprise the following materials :

Major Components Minor Components

Cement Concrete Pipes (GI, Iron, plastics)
Bricks Electrical fixtures (Copper/ aluminium
wiring, wooden baton, bakelites/
plastic switches, wire insulation)
Steel (from R.C.C, door / window Panels (wooden, laminated)
frames, roofing supports, railings of
staircase etc)
Rubble Others (glazed tiles, glass panes, and
paints)
Stone (marble, granite, sand stone)
Wood /Timber (especially demolition of
old buildings)

4.10.b THE ‘3R’ CONCEPT

Until last two decades, landfill was considered as the cheapest and convenient method of C&D waste
disposal. But land filling is considered to be undesirable due to environmental and ecosystem
hazards. Now most of the landfills are at the verge of arriving at its full capacity. Hence, more
valuable lands may have to be employed in the future, which increase cost for C&D waste disposal

Reduce
Potential wastes can be identified early in the design process itself and measures should be taken
during design stage to minimize the waste that may generate. Waste reduction can be achieved by
design with standard sizes for all building materials, design spaces to be flexible and adaptable to
changing uses and design for deconstruction.

Reuse
This involves identification of
waste that can be salvaged for
reuse on the current project or
another project or that can be
donated. A comparison of the
value of the materials “as it is” for
salvage and to their value as
materials for recycling may be
considered prior to reuse in many
cases. Some of these materials
may be valuable to reuse on-site;
others may be sold to be used
building
material in another site or donated to a charitable organization

Recycle
After adopting all the options to prevent waste, salvage and reuse materials, the next step is to recycle
as much of the remaining debris as possible. Recycling saves money by minimizing disposal costs.
4.10.c : MEASUREMENT AND APPROVAL

Green buildings are being certified based on certain rating program by different agencies.
The internationally accepted one is being the United States Green Building Council (USGBC)
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the green building rating program
sponsored by the USGBC. In India, Green buildings are rated by Green Rating for Integrated Habitat
Assessment (GRIHA). It has been developed by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and is
endorsed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). GRIHA attempts to minimize a
building‟s resource consumption, waste generation, and overall ecological/environmental impact by
comparing them to certain nationally acceptable limits / benchmarks. It does so, adopting the five
„R‟ philosophy of sustainable development, namely
• Refuse – to blindly adopt
international trends,
materials, technologies,
products, etc. especially in
areas where local
substitutes/equivalents are
available
• Reduce – the dependence on high energy products, systems, processes, etc.

• Reuse – materials, products, traditional technologies, so as to reduce the costs incurred in

designing buildings as well as in operating them
• Recycle –all possible wastes generated from the building site, during construction,
operation and demolition
• Reinvent – engineering systems, designs, and practices such that India creates global
examples that the world can follow rather than us following international examples.

4.11 CARBON FOOTPRINT

Is the total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission caused by an organization, event, product, or
person.

A carbon footprint is composed of two parts, a primary and secondary footprint. The primary
footprint is the sum of the direct carbon dioxide emissions of burning of fossil fuels, like domestic
energy consumption by furnaces and waters heaters, and transportation, like automobiles and
airplane travel. The secondary footprint is the sum of indirect emissions associated with the
manufacture and breakdown of all products, services and food an individual or business consumes.

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

There are many things that can be done to reduce one's carbon footprint:

• Use alternative energy

• Drive a hybrid, an electric car, or even a hydrogen fuel cell
• Use public transit, walk more or use a bike
• Buy locally and buy organic
• Consume less meat or go vegetarian
• Reduce, reuse and recycle
• And much more

To decrease your carbon footprint and help build a sustainable future, learn more on how to stop
climate change.