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Environmental Issues Concerned To Building Materials
Environmental Issues Concerned To Building Materials
Buildings are large entities and, as such, they impact upon the environment in various ways.
Present-day designs clearly consume large quantities of physical resources such as materials,
energy and money in their construction, maintenance and use; but they also can result in effects
such as loss of amenity and biodiversity which are much more difficult to assess.
- mining/extraction/harvesting
- manufacture
- construction
- use
- demolition
For most building materials, the major environmental impacts occur during the first two stages
but as waste-disposal problems increase, we are also being made increasingly aware of the
impacts associated with the demolition stage. It is apparent that the energy used to produce the
building material (its embodied energy) is only an approximate indicator of its environmental
impact.
WALLS
FLOORS
ROOFS
One thing suggested by these figures is that relatively small quantities of materials that have
high impact (eg, steel), may be preferable to large quantities of materials that have lower impact
(eg terracotta tile).
As always, designers, builders and building owners have to seek a balance between often
conflicting considerations, appearance, comfort, ease of construction, maintenance costs,
capital costs etc. Now, environmental impact is an added variable. However, it has been shown
that if environmental considerations are included early in the design process, it is possible to
incorporate them without incurring additional costs.
The twentieth century has been one of incredible technological and social change, yet as a
general rule, the theme current in the Modern movement in architecture at the beginning of this
century remains valid today, albeit for different reasons...
"Less is More!"
Methods for assessing and choosing materials are based on the following guidelines:
1. Environmental factors
6. Need to make best use of current technology, through the Building Material Assessment
System (see above).
- mining/extraction
- manufacture
- construction
- use
- demolition.
a) The damage to the environment during mining or harvesting of the basic material.
b) How much damage in relation to the quantity of materials (what else is disturbed or
damaged?).
m) The energy and effects associated with demolition/disposal at the end of the life-cycle.
NB: Each parameter is assigned a weighting between 1 and 5, and all the weightings must total
42. This method allows users to stipulate any personal priorities. The weightings can be altered
according to the philosophies of the client.