scholarly journals Embodied Energy and CO2 Emissions of Widely Used Building Materials: The Ethiopian Context

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woubishet Zewdu Taffese ◽  
Kassahun Admassu Abegaz
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Coarse Aggregates ◽  
Human Habitat ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Concrete Blocks

Buildings use a wide range of construction materials, and the manufacturing of each material consumes energy and emits CO2. Several studies have already been conducted to evaluate the embodied energy and the related CO2 emissions of building materials, which are mainly based on case studies from developed countries. There is a considerable gap in cases of developing countries regarding assessment of embodied energy and CO2 emissions of these building materials. This study identified the top five most used construction materials (cement, sand, coarse aggregates, hollow concrete blocks, and reinforcement bars), which are also prime sources of waste generation during construction in the Ethiopian building construction sector. Then, what followed was the evaluation of the embodied energies and CO2 emissions of these materials by examining five commercial and public buildings within the cradle-to-site lifecycle boundary. The evaluation results demonstrated that cement, hollow concrete blocks (HCB), and reinforcement bars (rebars) are the major consumers of energy and major CO2 emitters. Cumulatively, they were responsible for 94% of the embodied energy and 98% of the CO2 emissions. The waste part of the construction materials has inflated the embodied energy and the subsequent CO2 emissions considerably. The study also recommended several strategies for the reduction of embodied energy and the related CO2 emissions. The research delivers critical insights into embodied energy and CO2 emissions of the five most used building materials in the Ethiopian construction industry, as there are no prior studies on this theme. This might be a cause to arouse awareness and interest among the policy makers and the wider public to clearly understand the importance of research on this crucial issue to develop national energy and CO2 descriptors for construction materials, in order to take care of our naturally endowed, but yet fragile, human habitat.

scholarly journals DEVELOPMENT OF LIME BASED, LOAD-BEARING MATERIALS FOR WALL CONSTRUCTION

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fin O'Flaherty ◽  
Faraj Khalaf ◽  
Vincenzo Starinieri
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Base Material ◽  
Energy Criterion ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Hemp Fiber ◽  
Load Bearing ◽  
Hemp Fibers ◽  
Concrete Blocks ◽  
The Uk

Construction of buildings in the UK is traditionally done using building materials such as concrete blocks, bricks and less so, timber. Although timber is a sustainable product, concrete blocks and bricks require a lot of energy input during fabrication, concrete especially being a large producer of CO2 during its manufacture. Reducing energy consumption either domestically or industrially is an important part of achieving the UK Government’s legally binding commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% (relative to 1990 levels) by 2050. New, low embodied energy construction materials are urgently required to enable the construction industry to revolutionize and drastically decrease its carbon footprint. The constituents of the materials investigated were selected based on low embodied energy criterion. To achieve this, lime was selected as the base material with hemp (fibers and shives) and PVAc used as additives. Specially selected nanomaterials were used as fillers. The constituents were combined in a manner, which led to different materials being developed, all exhibiting different characteristics. One characteristic was strength (load bearing) to eliminate the use of timber studding during construction. The results show that the highest strengths were achieved by mixing 10 wt. % hemp fiber, 4 wt. % nanozinc oxide and 12 wt. % PVAc at a 0.4 W/L ratio, yielding 17.7 MPa in compression and 7.3 MPa in flexure.

Cost and environmental impacts reduction through building compactness

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Parisi Kern ◽  
Renata Postay ◽  
Eduardo Reuter Schneck ◽  
Mauricio Mancio ◽  
Marco Aurélio Stumpf González ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Constructive Method ◽  
Emission Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Research Stage ◽  
Compactness Index

PurposeThe central motivation for this study was to examine alternatives against the apartment area reduction as a safe way to reduce construction costs, adopted by many construction companies. From the building economic compactness index concept, it was studied the cost and environmental impacts (material consumption, embodied energy – EE and CO2 emission).Design/methodology/approachThe research strategy takes advantage of a case study aiming to investigate the relation between design characteristics related to area (m²) and building economic compactness index (%) with cost (Research Stage 1) and with environmental impacts: (Research Stage 2). The study involved real data from social housing projects, chosen in terms in terms of very similar features like size, area and constructive method (constants), however, with dissimilar compactness (variable).FindingsThe lack of direct relation between area and cost signs the importance of including the cost of vertical plans considered in the economic compactness building. The higher the economic compactness index, the lower the cost, the lower the amount of material, EE and CO2 emission parameters. However, due to the wide range of EE and CO2 values available, the reduction in the amount of materials achieved by increasing building economic compactness index may not be reflected in EE and CO2 gains.Research limitations/implicationsAs the limitation of this study, it must be taken into account a limited number of case buildings and the fact that the analysis is dependent on the reliability and accuracy of the data provided by constructors and the available information of EE and CO2 emission. As well discussed in the literature, the consistent database is a great challenge for the construction sector.Originality/valueThere might be alternatives to higher areas with relatively low-cost increments since results from buildings with the same area present different cost estimative and suggest a strong relationship with the economic compactness index. The large variation of EE and CO2 emission data indicates that reductions obtained by compactness increase may be impaired if the construction materials are produced with high levels of EE and CO2 emission. Thus, there must be an integrated effort on the part of designers (design and material specification) and manufacturers (material production), since isolated solutions may not be enough.

scholarly journals Iron and Aluminium Production Wastes as Exclusive Components of Alkali Activated Binders—Towards a Sustainable Alternative

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9938
Author(s):  
Nuno Cristelo ◽  
Fernando Castro ◽  
Tiago Miranda ◽  
Zahra Abdollahnejad ◽  
Ana Fernández-Jiménez
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Heat Of Hydration ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Alkaline Solutions ◽  
By Products ◽  
Alkali Activated

The sustainability of resources is becoming a worldwide concern, including construction and building materials, especially with the alarming increase rate in global population. Alternative solutions to ordinary Portland cement (OPC) as a concrete binder are being studied, namely the so-called alkali-activated cements (AAC). These are less harmful to the environment, as lower CO2 emissions are associated with their fabrication, and their mechanical properties can be similar to those of the OPC. The aim of developing alkali-activated materials (AAM) is the maximization of the incorporated recycled materials, which minimises the CO2 emissions and cost, while also achieving acceptable properties for construction applications. Therefore, various efforts are being made to produce sustainable construction materials based on different sources and raw materials. Recently, significant attention has been raised from the by-products of the steelmaking industry, mostly due to their widespread availability. In this paper, ladle slag (LS) resulting from steelmaking operations was studied as the main precursor to produce AAC, combined with phosphating bath sludge—or phosphate sludge (PS)—and aluminium anodising sludge (AS), two by-products of the surface treatment of metals, in replacement rates of 10 and 20 wt.%. The precursors were activated by two different alkaline solutions: a combination of commercial sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate (COM), and a disposed solution from the cleaning of aluminium extrusion steel dies (CLE). This study assesses the influence of these by-products from the steelmaking industry (PS, AS and CLE) on the performance of the alkali-activated LS, and specifically on its fresh and hardened state properties, including rheology, heat of hydration, compressive strength and microstructure and mineralogy (X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy and Fourier transform infra-red. The results showed that the CLE had no negative impact on the strength of the AAM incorporating PS or/and AS, while increasing the strength of the LS alone by 2×. Additionally, regardless of the precursor combination, the use of a commercial activator (COM) led to more fluid pastes, compared with the CLE.

scholarly journals Department of building materials and products: history and modernity

New Collegium ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (102) ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
E. Dedeneva ◽  
V. Bondar ◽  
I. Kazimagomedov ◽  
Т. Kostyuk
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Practical Training ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Educational Support ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
National University ◽  
Institute Of Technology

The Department of Building Materials and Products of the Kharkiv National University of Construction and Architecture in 2020 celebrates its ninetieth anniversary. She counts her age since 1930, when the Kharkov Civil Engineering Institute was founded, separated from the construction faculty of the Kharkov Institute of Technology. Construction materials science, as the main general educational and fundamental discipline for future specialists of all construction specialties and architects, absorbs various sciences, disciplines and contacts a wide range of materials, products, technologies. The highly qualified team of the teaching staff and educational support personnel of the Department of Building Materials and Products has been providing high-quality training for the construction industry for 90 years. The staff of the department, relying on their educational, pedagogical and scientific experience, adjust and create new work programs, taking as a basis the primary fundamental knowledge and requirements for the modernization of vocational education in Ukraine. Today the department has the opportunity to carry out experiments to assess the quality of common building materials. Thanks to the constant contacts of the department with industrial and trade organizations, the collection of samples and brochures of new domestic and foreign finishing materials (ceramics, polymer products, dry building mixtures, etc.) has been almost completely updated and is constantly updated during practical training. The friendly and creative team of the department is optimistic about the 90th anniversary of the department and KNUSA.

scholarly journals (34) Energy and Capital Costs of High Tunnel Construction

HortScience ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 1077A-1077
Author(s):  
Michael K. Bomford ◽  
Anthony Silvernail
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Average Energy ◽  
Economic Incentive ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
High Tunnel ◽  
Capital Costs ◽  
Total Capital ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
National Organic Program

Commercial vegetable growers in Kentucky have used high tunnels for year-round production for the past decade. They suggest it is a more energy-efficient and economical means of supplying off-season vegetables to the region than trucking field-grown produce from warmer regions. In 2005, we erected a 9 × 12-m high tunnel, designed to comply with National Organic Program standards, at the Kentucky State University Research Farm. We recorded the retail cost of each component, and estimated its embodied energy using published figures for common building materials. The materials used for construction were valued at $2830, and contained 59 GJ of embodied energy. The frame and plastic cladding accounted for 36% and 24% of the total capital cost, and 28% and 37% of the embodied energy, respectively, with other components accounting for the remainder. Assuming that the frame, plastic cladding and other components last 20, 4, and 10 years, respectively, the average cost of the tunnel is $328/year, and the average energy input is 8 GJ/year. The plastic cladding accounts for 50% of the annual amortized cost, and 66% of the embodied energy. If the structure is used to grow 2000 heads of lettuce each winter, and 450 kg of early market tomatoes each spring, it could generate sufficient income to recover the total cost of construction materials in its first year. Trucking this amount of produce from California to Kentucky would consume approximately 8 GJ. We conclude that there is an economic incentive for growers to adopt this technology, but no energy efficiency advantage to society. Longer tunnels, such as the 9 × 29-m models more commonly used by commercial vegetable growers in Kentucky, will be more energy- and capital-efficient.

scholarly journals The Relationship of Embodied Energy and Cost of Buildings and Building Materials

10.29007/8lk1 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manish Kumar Dixit ◽  
Sarel Lavy ◽  
Parag Abdagiri
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Material ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Strong Positive Correlation ◽  
Data Intensive ◽  
Hybrid Approaches ◽  
Energy Flows ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
Relationship Of

Buildings consume nearly half of global energy each year in their construction and operation as embodied and operational energy releasing approximately 40% of global carbon emission. Embodied energy (EE) is consumed indirectly through the use of construction materials, assemblies, and equipment, and directly in construction processes and related transportation. Operational energy (OE) is consumed in building air-conditioning, heating, lighting, and powering equipment. Both EE and OE must be minimized to lower this huge energy footprint of buildings. To decrease EE, a complete and accurate EE assessment is essential, which, however, is a quite data-intensive and time-consuming process. EE is conventionally computed using process- and input-output (IO)-based methods. Hybrid approaches that combine the two methods are also used to compute EE. In an IO-based method, macroeconomic data is translated into energy flows, which indicates a potential relationship between energy and economic flows, and consequently between EE and cost. In this paper, we investigated the EE-cost relationship at the building and construction material levels and found a strong positive correlation between the EE and cost of the study buildings. The results indicate a need to further analyze this relationship through regression analysis to see if EE can be predicted from cost data.

scholarly journals Mitigation Strategies for Reduction of Embodied Energy and Carbon, in the Construction Systems of Contemporary Quality Architecture

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 3806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Sicignano ◽  
Giacomo Di Ruocco ◽  
Roberta Melella
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Wide Range

The criticality related to the consumption of operational energy and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of existing buildings is clearly decreasing in new buildings due to the strategies tested and applied in recent years in the energy retrofit sector. Recently, studies have been focusing on strategies to reduce environmental impacts related to the entire life cycle of the building organism, with reference to the reduction of embodied energy (and related greenhouse gas emissions) in building materials. As part of EEA’s European EBC project, Annex 57, a wide range of case studies have been promoted with the aim of identifying design strategies that can reduce the embodied energy and related greenhouse gas emissions of buildings. The aim of this paper is to investigate the most common construction systems in the construction industry (concrete, steel, wood) through the analysis of three contemporary architectural works, with the aim of identifying the predisposition for environmental sustainability of each technological system, thus guiding the operators in the sector towards design choices more compatible with the environmental requirements recommended by European legislation.

Promoting building materials that have lower embodied carbon and energy in public procurements

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 722-739
Author(s):  
Kristel Rebane ◽  
Alvina Reihan
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Sound Insulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Embodied Carbon ◽  
Efficient Alternative ◽  
Concrete Elements ◽  
Clear Information

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a more carbon efficient alternative design using engineered timber components over reinforced concrete elements to a recently completed non-residential building located in Tallinn, Estonia. Also to promote building materials that have proved to have lower embodied carbon and energy. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on data collected from the original project drawings, embodied carbon and embodied energy values of construction materials under comparison which are based on Inventory of Carbon & Energy database and on the research conducted in Finland that focussed on wooden building products. The engineered timber solution is designed in accordance with relevant regulations and laws including requirements for fire safety and sound insulation. Findings Buildings embodied carbon and embodied energy can be reduced by using proposed engineered timber materials. Research limitations/implications The outcome of current research is limited and applies only to the reference building and its proposed alternative, therefore it should be taken into consideration before any use. Still it provides clear information that using more carbon efficient materials can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of a building. Practical implications The outcome can be used as a tool promoting materials with a lower embodied carbon and energy in public procurements. Originality/value This study comparing buildings enclosure system alternatives as a whole by allowing to choose more environmentally friendly solution is the first in Estonia.

Utilization of Materials from the Production of Mineral Wool into Construction Materials

2014 ◽  
Vol 1000 ◽  
pp. 178-181
Author(s):  
Pavel Leber ◽  
René Čechmánek ◽  
Petr Bibora ◽  
Ivana Chromková ◽  
Martin Vyvážil
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Mineral Wool ◽  
Fibre Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Concrete Blocks ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Glass Fibre Reinforced ◽  
Thin Walled ◽  
Material Utilization

This paper describes research on utilization of solid waste materials from mineral wool production. Aim of this research is verification of most suitable way of separated waste material utilization in building materials and determination of its maximal amount without negative effect on physical-mechanical and ecological characteristics of a final product. The research was focused on self-leveling mixtures, thin-walled glass fibre reinforced concrete products and vibropressed thin-walled shaped concrete blocks.

scholarly journals Self-Healing Construction Materials: The Geomimetic Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9033
Author(s):  
Valery Lesovik ◽  
Roman Fediuk ◽  
Mugahed Amran ◽  
Nikolai Vatin ◽  
Roman Timokhin
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Evolutionary Stage ◽  
Self Healing ◽  
Building Science ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Wide Range

A person spends most of his life in rooms built from various building materials; therefore, the optimization of the human environment is an important and complex task that requires interdisciplinary approaches. Within the framework of the new theory of geomimetics in the building science of materials, the concepts of technogenic metasomatism, the affinity of microstructures, and the possibilities of creating composites that respond to operational loads and can self-heal defects have been created. The article aims to introduce the basic principles of the science of geomimetics in terms of the design and synthesis of building materials. The study’s novelty lies in the concept of technogenic metasomatism and the affinity of microstructures developed by the authors. Novel technologies have been proposed to produce a wide range of composite binders (including waterproof and frost-resistant gypsum binders) using novel forms of source materials with high free internal energy. The affinity microstructures for anisotropic materials have been formulated, which involves the design of multilayered composites and the repair of compounds at three levels (nano-, micro-, macro-). The proposed theory of technogenic metasomatism in the building science of materials represents an evolutionary stage for composites that are categorized by their adaptation to evolving circumstances in the operation of buildings and structures. Materials for three-dimensional additive technologies in construction are proposed, and examples of these can be found in nature. Different ways of applying our concept for the design of building materials in future works are proposed.

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