Running head: GREEN CONSTRUCTION 1

GREEN CONSTRUCTION

Insititute Name

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October 20, 2019

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Issue of Green Construction and the used of building material derived from Agricultural

Waste.

The world is facing serious energy and natural resource shortage along with the global

climate change which cannot be ignored (Hsieh et al., 2011). As a result of that Green building

concept has been adopted by many nations as the best way forward in preserving our resources

and sustaining our environment (Al-Kaabi et al., 2009). Green construction is considered a

solution to minimize environmental degradation caused by building practices and to learn how to

deliver Planet Earth for the future generations (Kamana and Escultura, 2011). For that reason

rapid growth can be seen in the construction of green building in the past several years (Wu and

Low, 2010).

Construction industry has made efforts to develop green building practices over the last

two decades (Gluch, 2006). Green buildings result in resource efficiency, lifecycle effects, and

building performance. The foundation of Smart buildings is integrated building technology

system. Construction and operational efficiencies and enhanced management and occupant

functions is used to achieve sustainability. numerous commonalities can be seen between

integrating building's technology systems and constructing a sustainable or “green” building

(Sinopoli,2008). According to Chatterjee (2009) the green building practice is “a process to

create buildings and infrastructure in such a way that minimize the use of resources, reduce

harmful effects on the ecology, and create better environments for occupants. Green buildings

exhibit a high level of environmental, economic, and engineering performance. These include

energy efficiency and conservation, improved indoor air quality, resource and material

efficiency, and occupant's health and productivity”.

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Kamana and Escultura (2011) defined “sustainable building or green buildingas an

outcome of a design which focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource use - energy, water,

and materials – while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the

building’s lifecycle, through better location, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and

removal”. Pan et al. (2011) added that with the focus on increasing the efficiency of resource use

and a better design philosophy sustainability can be achieved. Green construction not only

depend on the selection of material but Construction activities contribute significantly to

pollution and to the degradation of the ecosystem, 40% of the total global annual energy

consumption and 16% of the total water consumption are related to the activities of the

construction sector. Buildings and construction activities are responsible for a large portion of

the consumed energy. Hence it is advisable to investigate methods for improving the energy

efficiency of buildings.

Three phases of the building material life cycle

Buildings and construction materials are evaluated under the framework of sustainability

for example the green building materials (e.g. biocement, eco-cement and green concrete), green
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designs, green roofs, and green technologies. . (Wu and Low, 2010) concluded that Building

sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions around the globe, e.g. the energy used

for heating the building, lighting, operating devices etc. Therefore, being green or sustainable is

one critical issue coming from both internal and external factors for construction and engineering

companies therefore efforts are required not only in the selection of appropriate technologies but

also in the choice of proper materials In order to help decision-makers with the selection of the

right materials, a “mixed integer optimization model” that incorporates design and budget

constraints.

More and more industries now days have begun to reduce carbon emissions from their

designs and manufacturing processes to abide by the rules of IPCC recommendations around the

world. Different criteria are in use to select materials to be used in green buildings which include

materials made of recycled and recovered agro-industrial wastes and materials that reduce the

quantity used without adversely affecting the durability, it is also important that the used

materials can be recycled.“Life cycle assessment (LCA) and green building regulations also play

a key role in evaluating building materials and maintaining sustainability in the industry

(Chatterjee,2009). Fulfilling the requirements of ecological, recycling, healthy, and high-

performance attributes, the green building material may effectively reduce environmental

impacts and improve the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) to gradually achieve health and

global sustainability”.

According to research the construction industry generates the greatest environmental impacts

among all the other industries, therefore Green building designs and standards are developed to
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improve building operation energy and minimize energy and wastes (Kwok et al., 2011). Green

building practices can play a key role in achieving sustainability in the construction industry

(Chatterjee, 2009).

Agricultural wastes, e.g. plant residues, should be used as green building materials to

make the construction of green buildings cost-effective. As stated by Barreca (2012) the energy

cost for transport can be minimized by the utilization of local material in rural buildings as well

as its environmental impact, because, when the building is demolished, the material is

reintroduced into the environmental system. Therefore interdependence is there between the

green building and agriculture; In order to invest this interdependence, the agricultural wastes

and the biowastes (e.g. plant residues) can be used to make sustainable and recyclable green

building materials (e.g., producing biocement, molding plant residues) on the one hand and green

buildings provide sustainable agricultural structures on the other hand.

Most of the green building materials should enter the natural cycle i.e. originate from the

nature and turn back into the nature where it will break down for that purpose the role of

agricultural and biological engineers, in the green building context, should be defined and

extended.

The role of agricultural and biological engineers can be defined as follows:

1. To investigate the local agricultural materials that can be used as green building

materials, e.g. giant reed, straw, clay etc.;

2. To manufacture biomaterials, e.g. extracting bio-silica from plants, to be used for

fabricating green building materials, e.g. bio cement, eco-cement, and green concrete;

3. To develop farm green building assessment and rating system

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4. To assess and implement the guidelines of green buildings when constructing new farm

buildings.

“The existing agricultural farms, livestock barns do not comply with the green building

concept as most of the properties that formulate the green building aspect are missing. Hence, the

implementation of the green building concept in agricultural buildings is still limited and should

be conceptualized and set off”.

“An agricultural green building assessment and rating system should be developed in

order to be implemented in assessing and rating the livestock barns and the greenhouses”.
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References

Ali, H. H., and S.F. Al Nsairat, 2009. Developing a green building assessment tool for

developing countries – Case of Jordan. Building and Environment, Vol. 44(5): 1053–1064.

Chatterjee, A.K. 2009, Sustainable construction and green buildings on the foundation of

building ecology. Indian Concrete Journal, 83(5): 27-30.

M. Samer, 2013, Towards the implementation of the Green Building concept in

agricultural buildings: a literature review, Agric Eng Int: CIGR Journal, Vol. 15, No.2

Sustainable Architecture Module: Qualities, Use, and Examples of Sustainable Building

Materials.
Written by: Jong-Jin Kim, Assistant Professor of Architecture, and Brenda Rigdon,
Project Intern, College of Architecture and Urban Planning The University of Michigan