Report: Low Carbon Materials and Construction Practices

This report explores environmental sustainability within the construction sector, emphasizing the shift towards low-carbon materials to mitigate pollution and reduce energy consumption. It delves into the selection of low-carbon materials like fly ash bricks, green concrete, and mud blocks, highlighting their role in minimizing environmental impact. The report also examines innovative construction processes, including low-carbon screening approaches and building information systems, which enable optimized building designs and improved efficiency. Furthermore, it discusses the management of operative energy consumption, renewable energy systems such as green gauges and building control systems, and the importance of recycling and reusing materials to create sustainable buildings. The conclusion reinforces the significance of these practices in achieving environmental goals within the construction industry, referencing academic sources to support the analysis.

Environmental
sustainability in
construction

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Question 1: Selection of low carbon construction materials.......................................................1
Question 2: Innovative construction process...............................................................................1
Question 3: Management of operative energy consumption and consumption behaviour..........2
Question 4: Renewable energy systems.....................................................................................2
Question 5: Recycle and reuse....................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Environmental sustainability is a major concern in construction sector. There are many
materials used in building through which pollution level is increased. So, now low carbon
materials are used that has resulted in reducing energy consumption. It has highly benefited in
maintaining sustainability in buildings.
Question 1: Selection of low carbon construction materials
It is important to reduce carbon emission generated from construction of buildings. For this
the simple way is to use utilise low carbon materials (Kamali and Hewage, 2017). They are
sourced from harvested wood products. It reduces emission of pollutants in the environment.
There are many low carbon materials that can be used in construction. In present time, many
materials are been highly used in buildings. They are as follows:-
Low carbon bricks- The bricks are made of fly ash that helps to reduce embodied carbon. Fly
ash is glass powder and contains silica, iron and alumina. They are by product of coal from
electricity generation that is disposed after separating it from flue gas.
Green concrete- in this carbon Portland cement is exchange by fly ash and granulated blast
furnace slag. Moreover, the sand can be washed by slag and recycled from demolished debris.
Green tiles- These tiles are made from recycled ceramic materials. They can be used in flooring.
This will be useful in reducing pollution.
Mud blocks – It can be used in replace of bricks. They are solid blocks made of soil, sand, etc.
they are energy efficient bricks and saves 60- 70% energy than normal bricks.
Question 2: Innovative construction process
There has been much advancement in construction technologies which have modified
process of power production. It has enabled in generating low carbon emissions. With this
innovation new design has emerged (Khatib, 2016). It has enabled in implementing materials by
which emission can be decreased. Besides this, by measuring performance of building through
technology, carbon materials can be used. Furthermore, there are many technologies used in it.
They are as follows :-
Low carbon screening approach – this is an approach that uses various performance indicators
for planning and design of buildings. It helps in creating such design that is highly optimized.
Moreover, it uses techniques such as DTM, SAP, etc. for reducing carbon emission.
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Building information system – It is a technology that provides data and information on basis of
functional and physical features of building. This support in installing tools and devices to
improve building efficiency. By analysing information an energy efficient design can be
developed.
Question 3: Management of operative energy consumption and consumption behaviour
In low carbon materials the energy consumption is low as they are made of soil, slag, etc.
Energy consumption is been an issue in buildings (Piecyk and et.al., 2015). There are many
factors due to which energy performance is affected. So, it is essential to manage operative
energy. It shows the total consumption in particular device and specific time. Also, it is useful in
finding out how there is change in energy consumption and how it varies. Consumption
behaviour shows change in demand of energy with respect to use of materials. By this it can be
identified how use of energy changes with installing of low carbon technology and materials.
Question 4: Renewable energy systems
It is necessary to monitor use of energy in buildings. This is because it shows how much
energy is been utilised and saved. The energy systems are those devices that track energy in
building. In low carbon technology green gauges can be used. They are the meters that
automatically collect data. It is installed in buildings to gather hourly data. By this it is easy to
identify unusual pattern of use and other anomalies. In green gauges there are various types of
meters as well. They are electric, heat and gas sub metres. They are used to measure heat and
electricity used in specific time period. There are many other devices that is used to monitor
building performance.
There are some building control system as well that monitor efficiency of materials used. It
helps in controlling overall building energy consumption. It measures daily requirements on
different time. Additionally, the system is used to maintain comfort level of building inhabitants.
In addition to it, meters can be manually or automatically tracked. The data collected can
be analysed that where there is excess use of energy. Thus, by identifying those areas changes
can be made and low carbon materials are installed. Therefore, it helps in saving energy and
creating a sustainable building.
Question 5: Recycle and reuse
In constructing building there are many materials that can be recycles and reused. In same
way low carbon materials can be recycled as well. For instance the mud blocks and low carbon
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bricks can be recycled. It can be done with the help of technology (Yılmaz and Bakış, 2015).
Alongside it, green concrete can be reused again in buildings. In this some extra material can be
added to maintain quality of concrete. So, by reusing all these materials the building can be built
more sustainable.
In these there are few materials that can be recycled. It is because the materials are already
made from recycled products. Moreover, materials like ash blocks and earth walls are recycled.
The soil taken from it utilised in building more blocks. Thus, using low carbon materials helps in
efficient use of electricity. The internal refurbishment like wood, sheds, etc. can be also reused.
Basically, these materials are more often used and reduces use of energy.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that low carbon materials are green tiles, mud blocks, etc. the innovative
process includes BIM and carbon screening approach. Also, there are many renewable energy
system like control and green gauges.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Kamali, M. and Hewage, K., 2017. Development of performance criteria for sustainability
evaluation of modular versus conventional construction methods. Journal of cleaner
production. 142. pp.3592-3606.
Khatib, J. ed., 2016. Sustainability of construction materials. Woodhead Publishing.
Piecyk, M. and et.al., 2015. Green logistics: Improving the environmental sustainability of
logistics. Kogan Page Publishers.
Yılmaz, M. and Bakış, A., 2015. Sustainability in construction sector. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences. 195. pp.2253-2262.
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