University Report: Environmental Impact of Construction Projects

This report delves into the environmental impact of the construction industry, highlighting pollution from energy and material usage, and the effects on ecosystems. It emphasizes the construction sector's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide and methane, and the generation of waste products. The report discusses the impact of heavy machinery in raw material extraction, the use of fossil fuels, and the pollution from toxic chemicals. It further explores the long-term environmental consequences of completed buildings, which consume a significant portion of global energy. The report concludes by advocating for sustainable construction methods, including waste reduction, green building materials, and efficient recycling of construction debris to minimize environmental damage.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION
Environmental Impact of Construction
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION
Introduction- Environmental impact is a fundamental issue and it generally indicates the
issues that emanate from any activity that has the potential of affecting the environment.
Environmental impact due to the construction industry, pollution occurring from usage of energy
and material, and the impact of the pollution on the living being like the fauna and flora gets
highlighted (Fewings2013).
Impact of construction on environment- It is important to note that the climate change
scientists have propounded that the earth is getting warmer day by day and human activity has
played a major role in accelerating the entire process. The vital fact is that the construction
industries contribute to the global emission of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. It has
been seen that the construction project plays a major role in the emission of methane and carbon
dioxide along with it waste products are generated that pollutes the air (Kuo and Lu 2013). One
of the most harmful aspects of construction industry is that it employs the huge and heavy
machines for the purpose of raw material extraction in the mining projects. In overall emission of
the global carbon dioxide, cement industry contributes about 5 percent (Taylan et al. 2014). Also,
the applications of electricity and fuel in the construction industry has contributed majorly to the
global carbon emission. Fossil fuel is generally used to transport as well as extract minerals so
that the materials can be processed. Fossil fuels are also used to power the several tools that are
used at the construction sites (Taylan et al. 2014).
The construction projects impact the environment by significantly affecting the nature
and the local environment. At the construction sites, the sources of pollution which include the
toxic chemicals, solvents, paints and fossil fuels. It is also important to highlight that minor spill
of chemicals leads to the leaching of the chemicals into the waterways and the ground (Huang et
al. 2013). This is turn harms the aquatic life, toxifies water sources. Even the condition of

2ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION
pollution from the construction projects in the developing countries provides a grim picture. In
the developing countries the presence of the stringent measures has led to the disposal of the
polluting substances, waste products generated at the construction sites to the neighbouring
places. This contributes to the build-up of wastes and it negatively impacts the environment
following the completion of a construction project. The completed buildings affect the
environment more in comparison the construction projects. It has been seen that the operation of
the buildings on a daily basis consumes about 40 percent of the energy that is used worldwide.
There are projects that transport fossil fuel and it has been criticized that the construction of the
pipelines leads to the oil spills over a large area and it sometimes goes undetected which cause
major damage to the flora and fauna of the area (Zolfagharian et al. 2012).
Sustainable construction methods- it is important to note that the removal or the
reduction of the wastes that are generated from the construction projects involves an integrative
effort of the different types of the stakeholders. While there are legislations that can effectively
minimize the rate of waste generation and the degree of pollution. The effective utilization of the
green building construction creates opportunities for many firms to limit the impact on the
environment from the construction project. One of the promising way is to use green building
material in the new construction projects (Kibert2016). Green construction materials can be used
to reduce as well as eliminate the dependency on the mining of the raw materials that require
fossil fuels for energy source. Green materials can be used as a recycled material in future
projects that will further reduce the costs of the firms, and reduce the impact on the environment.
The construction debris which is generated at the construction sites can be effectively
streamlined so that the materials can be efficiently and quickly recycled (Madurwar,
Ralegaonkar and Mandavgane 2013).

3ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION
Conclusion- From the above discussion it can be concluded that the construction projects
generate a lot of waste and it impacts the environment negatively. Also, it has been found that
the completed construction project impacts the environment to a greater extent in comparison to
the ongoing construction project. However, green materials can be used in the construction
projects so that the used materials do not contribute to the environmental pollution.

4ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION
Reference
Fewings, P., 2013. Construction project management: an integrated approach. Routledge.
Huang, T., Shi, F., Tanikawa, H., Fei, J. and Han, J., 2013. Materials demand and environmental
impact of buildings construction and demolition in China based on dynamic material flow
analysis. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 72, pp.91-101.
Kibert, C.J., 2016. Sustainable construction: green building design and delivery. John Wiley &
Sons.
Kuo, Y.C. and Lu, S.T., 2013. Using fuzzy multiple criteria decision making approach to
enhance risk assessment for metropolitan construction projects. International Journal of Project
Management, 31(4), pp.602-614.
Madurwar, M.V., Ralegaonkar, R.V. and Mandavgane, S.A., 2013. Application of agro-waste for
sustainable construction materials: A review. Construction and Building Materials, 38, pp.872-
878.
Taylan, O., Bafail, A.O., Abdulaal, R.M. and Kabli, M.R., 2014. Construction projects selection
and risk assessment by fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS methodologies. Applied Soft Computing,
17, pp.105-116.
Zolfagharian, S., Nourbakhsh, M., Irizarry, J., Ressang, A. and Gheisari, M., 2012.
Environmental impacts assessment on construction sites. In Construction Research Congress
2012: Construction Challenges in a Flat World (pp. 1750-1759).