Zayed university

University college
Methods of Scientific Research and Development
Gen185

The effects of building

materials on environment

Student's name: Maitha Ahmed AL Hammadi

ID: 201800713
Instructor's name: Lama Mahmoud.
Section number: 017
  Literature review:

building Materials are the materials that people used to use in

construction. the problem is the impacts of modern building materials on
environment, it is using mostly 40% of the world’s energy, greenhouse
gas emission that have been affecting climate change and building are
responsible for a large percentage of wasted water. Consequently, all
this result is damaging our world already. Therefore, we have to find a
solution, in fact the solution is exist which is old building materials
(sustainable materials). This what should be used in buildings so our
world can survive.

A study that compared the environmental impacts of earthen materials

(based on clay) with those of conventional industrial materials (based on
cement and aluminum) from a life cycle perspective. (melia, 2014) argue
results shows on environment using earthen materials, whose
production is based on simple processes requiring small amounts of
energy are substantially better than conventional materials. Also
highlights the importance of finding local resources of raw materials to
avoid nullifying the environmental benefits off natural building products.
At the same time from the comparison of new building vs old buildings,
we can say that modern buildings are more prone to cracks compared to
the old buildings. Nowadays so many old buildings are being renovated
or restored to get the maximum economic benefits from them. Moreover,
new emerging building materials should be replaced with the old ones to
improve and helps in recycling of the materials and save energy and
make countries pollution free, for this reason the more we use
unsustainable materials the more pollution we get.

Another article looks at the effect of sustainable building materials on

environment. As (Patch, 2010) said: sustainably addressing global
accommodation needs seems possible. Here’s some materials that
could help: timber, cellulose, paints and wood treatments, wool bricks,
solar tiles. The results of using these substances are; lowest
environmental impact on its production and life cycle and has to be
certified so that we can be sure about its sustainable production and
origin, recyclable and compostable, also no substance harming the
ozone layer and without solvents or any other chemical products, lastly
reducing the embodied energy as they do not need to be fired.
 One more study shows the ancient builds building materials and
clarify the reason of their resilience, some of the buildings (Newcomb,
2016) wrote about are; The Egyptian Pyramids, which are made of
limestone, granite, basalt, gypsum (mortar), and baked mud bricks.
Roman Colosseum which made from different types of stone- Bricks-
iron- Marble- Lime (binder for the cement). Great Wall of China made of
stone, brick, lime, and wood. And lastly Theatre of Marcellus its building
materials are Tuff (Stone)- concrete- limestone. As we see the ancient
builds are built from sustainable building materials which made them
resilience of natural disasters such as earthquake, flood, etc.

The last study discusses the impact of construction on climate

change, Construction sector is considered as one of the main sources of
environmental pollution in the world. It has massive direct and indirect
effects on the environment. As (Enhassi, A. 2014) debate, the
environmental impacts are categorized into three safeguard subjects:
ecosystems, natural resources and public impacts. The results of this
study revealed that dust generation, noise pollution, operations with
vegetation removal, and air pollution are the most significant
environmental impacts of construction projects. The results also
revealed that labors and those who are working in construction sector
are the most slices of people exposing every day to health problems
such as respiratory problems, liver, cancer, hearing impairment,
hypertension, annoyance, sleep disturbance, and other cardiovascular
adverse effects.
 Aluminum consumption industry,
thousand tones

Figure 1: (Sharique, m. 2016)

 Global Aluminum consumption statistic shows;

construction ranks number two in the use of
aluminum.
Hypothesis:

 If people start using sustainable building materials,

then world’s environment will recover.

Methodology:
 In order to collect useful data for my research
question, I conducted a survey for GEN-185-005
participants in F5-1-005 class during 9:30-10:50
am. It was Online website and distributed over 10
female Emirati students aged between 18-22 years
old. The topic of the survey was: The effect of
building materials on environment. It consisted of 10
question which varied between multiple choices,
ranking, and a few with open-ended questions.

Survey questions:
Answers’ options
Question
Do you think old Modern building Old building materials
(clay, stone...)
or modern building materials (cement
materials is and aluminum...)
better?

Do you think
Single-Family yes maybe no
Home will have an
impact on
environment?

The adjustments The materials Because it has a

What do you think which people which it was built consistent Low
the reason of the
make in it every from. center of gravity.
pyramids sustain?
year.
Yes, because
Do you think nowadays, when No, Because the
construction has the building climate change Something else.
an impact on materials has has other reasons Specify please.
climate change? improved the like (Factories,
environment agricultural
affected activities.. ).
negatively.
Do you prefer that Modern, because
people continue Modern materials, Old materials, it is now
using modern because general because its environmentally
building materials view looks better. sustainable & friendly, and it
or use the old uses less energy. looks good
materials?

In your point of
view, can we yes no Something else.
blame mother Specify please.
earth on the
widespread
natural disasters?
Do you think
building with Yes No
wood can reduce Something else.
the impact on the Specify please.
environment?
Do you think yes no
sustainable Something else.
business are more Specify please.
likely in being the
most successful in
this sector?
does it make
sense to you if I Yes, this is a Maybe, because No, each job has
told you that the major problem labors need to its risks.
results revealed that has to be work for making
that labors and solved. money and we
those who are have to help them
working in to not lose their
construction life while trying
sector are the to live.
most slices of
people exposing
every day to
health problems?
In your point of Because ancient In ancient times
view, what is the builds are built they did sorcery
factor of ancient from sustainable to save their Something else.
builds resiliency building buildings from Specify please.
against natural materials. destruction.
disasters such as
earthquake?

Results:
Do you think old or modern
building materials is better?

The first question was “Do you think

old or modern building materials is
better?”. 90% of participants chose
Figure 1

Do you think single-Family home

will have an impact on
environment?

The second question was “Do you

think single-Family home will have
an impact on environment?” 50% of
Figure 2

participants chose “Yas” and 40%

chose “Maybe” and 10% chose “No”

What do you think the reason of

the pyramids sustain?
The third question was “What do you
think the reason of the pyramids
sustain?” 50% of participants chose
Figure 3

“The adjustments which people make

in it every year” and 60% chose “The
materials which it was built from” and
Number of students 0% chose Because it has a consistent
Low center of gravity.
Do you think construction has an
impact on climate change?
The fourth question was “Do you think
construction has an impact on climate
change?”. 70% of participants chose “Yes,
because nowadays, when the building
materials has improved the environment
affected negatively” and 30% chose “No,
Because the climate change has other
Figure 4

Do you think construction has an

impact on climate change?
The Fifth question was “Do you prefer that
people continue using modern building
materials or use the old materials?”. 80%
Figure 5

of participants chose “Modern materials,

because general view looks better.” and
10% chose “Old materials, because its
sustainable & uses less energy” and 10%
chose “Modern, because it is now
environmentally friendly, and it looks
good”.

In your point of view, can we

blame mother earth on the
widespread natural disasters?

The sixth question was “In your point of

view, can we blame mother earth on the
Figure 6

widespread natural disasters?”. 50% of

participants chose “Yes” and 50% chose
“No”.

Do you think building with wood

can reduce the impact on the
environment?

The seventh question was “Do you think

building with wood can reduce the impact
on the environment?”. 70% of participants
Figure 7

chose “No” and 30% chose “Yes”.

 Do you think sustainable business
are more likely in being the most
successful in this sector?

The eighth question was “Do you think

sustainable business are more likely in
Figure 8

being the most successful in this sector?”.

100% of participants chose “yes” and 0%
chose “No”.

does it make sense to you if I told

you that the results revealed that
labors and those who are working
in construction sector are the most
slices of people exposing every The ninth question was “Does it make sense to you
day to health problems? if I told you that the results revealed that labors and
those who are working in construction sector are
Figure 9

the most slices of people exposing every day to

health problems?”.60% of participants chose “Yes,
this is a major problem that has to be solved.” and
30% chose “Maybe, because labors need to work
for making money and we have to help them to not
lose their life while trying to live.” And 10% chose
“No, each job has its risks”.

In your point of view, what is the

factor of ancient builds resiliency
against natural disasters such as
earthquake?
The tenth question was “In your point of
view, what is the factor of ancient builds
resiliency against natural disasters such as
earthquake?”.70% of participants chose
Figure
10

Discussion:
This section is an elaboration on the statistics completed in the
section above, where presumptions are made by connecting
results and investigating them. In the wake of investigating,
the overview results show in figure 1, the majority of
participants (90%) believe that modern building materials is
preferred to be used rather than old building materials, and
minority (10%) chooses old building materials. According to
(Lawson. B, 2019) research agrees that modern building
materials is causing environmental damage. In my point of
view and because of my methodical research about this topic,
I agree with the minority of participate because old building
materials will not impact the environment negatively, unlike
the modern building materials. Which reflects the need of
more environment awareness sessions for students to raise the
awareness on the level of hazard the new building materials
cause to the environment. In figure 2, majority of students
(50%) chose “yes” to single-Family home will have an impact
on environment, 40% chose “Maybe” and 10% chose “No”.
In fact research shows that single-Family home essentially has
impacts on environment (Hirshon, n.d.). Therefore,
Participants who chose “No” might not be conscious of the
environmental damage causes, so they supposed single-
Family home will not have an impact on environment. In
figure 4, the majority of the participants (70%) agrees that
construction has a big impact on climate change, and the
minority of participants (30%) believes that climate change is
not caused by construction, but other reasons are causing it. In
my opinion I agree with students who said that construction is
affecting climate change because it has been stated in T.V.
news that most of environment impacts come from
construction works, and it is fact it has a big role, also I
believe that students who think construction is not affecting
climate change are unaware of the difference between natural
affects and man affects and are not recognizing the effect
construction plays in climate change. Moreover, (Molitch, M.
2019) statistic search agrees with the majority of student
choice. In figure 7, the majority of students (70%) selected
the choice; building with wood cannot reduce the negative
impact on the environment, and minority (30%) chose
building with wood can reduce the negative impact on the
environment. In this question I agree with the minority of
participant since I had examined numerous articles related to
the positive impact of using wood in construction. I think
students who chose building with wood cannot reduce the
negative impact on the environment are not familiar with the
environment statistics and researches. (Hurmekoski. E, 2019)
stated in his research the wood construction and its results. In
figure 8, All students (100%) has agreed on the success in
sustainable business preferably than any other business. In my
point of view, I see that students nowadays are aware on how
businesses work, because UAE is a famous tourist attraction,
almost every person in UAE has thought already about
making a personal business. In my opinion, I can understand
the reasons behind students choosing “Yes”. Because
worldwide, people are working in decreasing the major
footprint and sustainable businesses support this initiative.
According to (Pellenbarg, 2010) survey that looks at
Sustainable Business Sites in the Netherlands: A Survey of
Policies and Experiences. the result agrees with the majority
of participant.
Conclusion:

The study was on choosing between old and modern building

materials and looking at its effects on environment. The aim
was to retune using old building materials because of it
sustain and environmentally Friendly, also to raise awareness
among students by showing the different impacts within the
survey questions. There are few discoveries among the
research paper: most of students (90%) choose modern
building materials is preferred to be used rather than old
building materials, 50% of them chose “yes” to single-Family
home will have an impact on environment, 70% agrees that
construction has a big impact on climate change, Also 70%
selected the choice; building with wood cannot reduce the
negative impact on the environment and all of students
(100%) has agreed on the success in sustainable business
preferably than any other business. Furthermore, with regards
to the strength of the investigation plan, the survey question
was written in simple language which makes it easier for
students to answer faster, as well as it was shared randomly so
the answers are not one-sided. Whereas, the weakness of the
investigation plan is the limitation of survey participants,
which are 10 classmates only. i would prefer if I could share it
with more people so the results be more accurate. Futurity, I
would like to raise the participant number and compare the
results to see the more accurate opinions.

References:
 Enshassi, A. (2014). An evaluation of environmental impacts of
construction projects. SCIELO, 29(3).
doi: 10.4067/S0718

Hirshon, B. Houses and Environment - Science Updates - Science

NetLinks. Retrieved 25 November 2019

Hurmekoski, E. (2017). Retrieved 26 November 2019

Kompas, T., Pham, V., & Che, T. (2018). The Effects of Climate
Change on GDP by Country and the Global Economic Gains From
Complying With the Paris Climate Accord. Earth's Future, 6(8),
1153-1173. doi: 10.1029/2018ef000922

Lawson, B. Environmental Impacts of Building Materials.

Retrieved 25 November 2019.

Melia, P. & Ruggieri, G. (2014). Environmental impacts of natural

and conventional building materials. ScienceDirect, 80, 179-186
doi: 10.1016/2014.05.073

Newcomb, T. (2016). The world’s Most impressive Ancient

Builds. POPULAR MECHANICS.

Peach, J. (2010). Sustainable building Materials that Could

Transform Construction. Thisbigcity.
Pellenbarg, P. (2010). Sustainable Business Sites in the
Netherlands: A Survey of Policies and Experiences.