Chapter 10

Sustainability
and the
construction
industry
Group 6:
Nguyen Thien Long
Nguyen Dinh Khai
Luong Manh Dung
Vu Hoai Nam
Global Considerations
Global Considerations

Since the start of the industrial revolution in the late 18th century, there has
been an exponential increase in our exploitation of materials for use in the
technologies that have driven economic growth and increased the prosperity and
living standards in much of the world. Although such developments have had
enormously beneficial consequences for both society as a whole and the people
that it comprises, they were not without their drawbacks. In the materials
context, there were problems associated with both production – e.g. harmful
emissions from cement factories, etc.
Exploitation of materials for development

INCREASES

Living Levels of Infrastructure

Standards Consumption
Drawbacks
Harmful Emissions: CO2 and other gases

• Cause of
Global
Warming
• Changes in
climate, etc.

Atmospheric concentration of Carbon Dioxide (ppm)

Life-cycle assessment
LCA
• embodied energy (EE): concerns the total energy
consumed in a building life-cycle. This includes the amount
of energy required to extract the raw materials, their
transportation, manufacture and installation on-site, as well
as their deconstruction or decomposition .
• embodied carbon (EC): the amount of carbon dioxide
emitted during the above processes, but taking into account
the source of the energy and its impact on the environment.
 Embodied Energy (EE)

Direct EE Indirect EE
• Direct EE is the energy consumed for the transportation and installation of building
materials and products to the construction site.
• Indirect is the EE consumed to acquire, process and manufacture the building materials,
including any transportation related to these activities.
• Indirect EE can be further divided in initial, recurring and demolition EE.
• Initial EE is the energy consumed for the acquisition, transportation and processing of
raw materials to create a product.
• The recurring EE is related to the energy consumed in the maintenance, repair
and replacement of a product during its service life.
• Demolition energy: the energy necessary to demolish and dispose of the building
at the end of its life
Information

 Building energy consumption corresponds to 40% of the total energy

consumption in Europe and is responsible for about 45% of the CO2 emissions
in the atmosphere, which is accountable for the greenhouse effect.
 Embodied energy (EE) and embodied CO2 (ECO2) of building materials are
essential ingredients of LCA
 In order to estimate the total EE and the related ECO2 emissions of a building,
a good material analysis, i.e. breakdown of the various building components
to their constitutive materials is required.
 EE and ECO2 values per unit mass for various materials vary not only from
material to material, but also from country to country.
Information

 As current research moves towards zero energy buildings, it is important to minimize

the total energy consumption and environmental impact of a building during its
lifecycle. Total energy consists of the operational energy and the embodied energy,
which is related to the embodied CO2 (ECO2) emissions that contribute to the
greenhouse phenomenon. ECO2 is estimated by multiplying material masses with the
corresponding ECO2 coefficients (kgCO2/kg).
 In Bangladesh, the experiment showed that a reduction of almost 52% of the total EE
and about 45% of the total ECO2 of the building could be achieved only by replacing the
principal materials (cement concrete, mortar) with other like fly-ash or blast furnace
slag. They emphasized that aluminum and steel have high ECO2 and EE values
compared to glass, timber or recycled products, while the use of bricks instead of
ceramics reduced CO2 emission by one third.
Material EE (MJ/kg)* EC (kg CO2/kg)* EE/unit strength EC/unit strength
(MJ/m3/MPa) (kg CO2/m3/MPa)

Aggregates 0.11 0.005

Aluminium alloys 218 11.46 8000 400
Asphalt 2.4 0.14
Bitumen 47 0.48
Bricks (clay) 3 0.22 120 10
Cast iron 25 1.91 300 25
Cement – Portland 4.6 0.83
Concrete – medium strength 1.1 0.16 45 6

Concrete – reinforced (3% steel) 3.5 0.32

Copper 70 3.83
Glass 15 0.85 650 40
Glass fibres 28 1.53 50 3
Grc 10.9 2.1 3000 570
Grp 100 8.10 1050 85
Mild steel 35.3 2.75 700 55
How to calculate EC?
Step-by-step

 Step 1: Establish constituent materials

 Step 2: Calculate weights of constituent materials per
square meter
 Step 3: Apply EC factors
 Step 4: Add EC of constituent materials to establish the
overall EC
Reference Sources:
https://www.ukgbc.org/sites/default/files/How%20to%20measure%20em
bodied%20carbon%20session%202.pdf
Sustainability and the
construction industry
Steel
Other benefits
• factory production of structural elements minimises site activity,
leading to higher quality, rapid construction, fewer site operatives and
less waste.
• steel structures can be designed to have long-span flexible spaces that
are adaptable for reuse.
• considerations at the design stage can produce structures of which the
elements and components are capable of being demounted and reused.
• even without this, it may be possible to reclaim structural elements
and buildings from demolition if there is no deterioration in properties
from the as-built state, particularly if they have bolted connections.
• the magnetic properties of steel make separation of scrap from other
metals and materials straight-forward for recycling into the steel
production process; this can, in principle, be carried out an unlimited
number of times. From demolition in the UK, 10% of the steel is reused
and 84% is recycled.
Reason

(EE) and embodied carbon (EC) for steel are at the higher
end of those for construction materials that are used in large
quantities. However, the figures given are for primary steel
production from iron ore, which involves the two stages of
reduction to pig iron in a blast furnace followed by
conversion to steel, both of which require high
temperatures. The alternative, production of recycled steel
from scrap, only involves the second stage and results in
steel with much lower EE and EC.
Embodied energy and carbon content
for various types of steel (cradle-to-site) (from
Hammond and Jones (2008))

Type of steel Embodied energy Embodied carbon (kg

(MJ/kg) CO2/kg)
General Virgin 35.3 2.75

Recycled 9.5 0.43

Bar and rod 36.4 2.68
Virgin
Recycled 8.8 0.42
Plate 48.4 3.19
Galvanised 39.0 2.82
Stainless 56.7 6.15
Aggregates
Divide depend on their sources

• Primary: from natural sources, which can

be either crushed rocks from bulk rock or
sands and gravels from river or sea-bed
deposits.
• Secondary: by-products of other industrial
processes not previously used in construction.
• Recycled: from previously used construction
materials.
Comparison, reason and example

 The EE and EC of aggregates are very low compared with those of other
construction materials and primarily result from the energy required for
extraction, processing (including crushing where necessary) and transport.
The figures for secondary and recycled aggregates may be a little higher than
those for primary aggregates, so there is no incentive to use them to reduce
the carbon footprint.
 Extracting large quantities of material from quarries or gravel pits can
causeloss of valuable or scenic land, dust and noise
 Ex: A major example is the use of recycled concrete aggregate and recycled
aggregate as sub-base for pavements, particularly during demolition and
redevelopment, as the processing of the demolition waste can be carried out
on site, minimising the need for transport.
Cement and concrete
Processing, Explain

 The production of Portland cement, requires high temperatures firstly

to decompose the calcium carbonate to calcium oxide and carbon
dioxide (a process called calcining), and then to fuse the calcium
oxide with the silicates, aluminates and ferrites to form the cement
compounds. Carbon dioxide emissions therefore occur as a result of
the burning of the fuels to product the high temperatures, the
breakdown of the calcium carbonate and the production of the energy
required for raw material extraction, clinker grinding and transport of
the finished cement.
 clearly the higher cement contents required for higher strength
concrete result in higher EE and EC.
Embodied energy and carbon content for concrete
constituents and classes (cradle-to-site) (from Hammond
and Jones (2008))
Material Embodied Embodied carbon
energy (MJ/kg) (kg CO2/kg)
Constituent 4.6 0.83
Cement (typical CEM I)
GGBS 1.33 0.07
Fly ash 0.1 0.01
Limestone powder 0.03
Concrete (binder = CEM I) 0.85 0.11
Class C16/30
Class C30/37 1.08 0.15
Class C50/60 1.41 0.21
Reinforced concrete (mean) 2.1 0.25
Asphalt and bituminous
materials
Explain

Eighty per cent of the world’s annual bitumen production of

100 million tonnes is used for pavementconstruction and
maintenance, generally combined with aggregates to give
asphalt. As with cement and concrete, the embodied energy
and carbon of the composite are significantly less than those
of the binder, owing to the low embodied energy and
embodied carbon of the aggregate filler that forms the bulk
of the volume
Masonry
Problem and Method

 Clay bricks have higher EE and EC contents than concreteand, as with other
high-volume materials, quarrying of the raw materials creates aesthetic and
other environmental problems.
 The brick-production industry in many countries has sought to minimise the
environmental impact by making production plants more efficient, e.g. by
optimising the recycling of heat during production, and by moving to more
highly perforated bricks, which minimise resource usage.
 A major factor contributing to the sustainability of masonry is that, if
correctly specified and constructed, it has a very long life with very low
maintenance costs.
Glass
Example

 The UK manufactures 750 000 tonnes of flat glass each year, three quarters of
which goes into glazing products for buildings. Waste container glass can be
remelted and added to the mix of raw materials to produce new glass. This
clearly saves energy (reducing the EE and EC values) and reduces waste, but
the glass used must be clear and free of contaminants, as structural flat glass
for use in buildings has strict quality requirements.
 Apart from being able to be incorporated in the feedstock for new glass
production, it can be used as alternative to primary aggregates for concrete,
fill for pavement sub-base, embankments, etc.
Polymers and fibre
composites
Divide into 3 parts
• polymers: a wide range of adhesives are available that can
assist rapid and durable construction,and form the basis for
effective repairs.
• polymer and fibre cement composites: light, strong and
durable structural elements can be produced in controlled
factory conditions, which results in reduced transport costs,
lower foundation loads, ease of construction and low
maintenance.
• fibre concretes: conventional reinforcement can be
reduced and there can be increased long-term structural
performance, particularly in relation to cracking and, again,
increased durability and lower maintenance costs.
Explain

 The production of polymers is an energy-intensive process

and therefore their EE and EC are in the upper part of the
range for construction materials, along with metals.
 Ex: Composites of polymers with cement and concrete, in
which the fibres generally have much higher EE and EC
than the cement or concrete matrix.
Timber
Explain

The values for sawn hardwood and softwood result

from the logging, transport and processing
operations, and the higher values for manufactured
timber products depend on the intensity of the
processes required for their production.
 Embodied energy and carbon content
for timber and timber products (cradle-to-site)
(from Hammond and Jones (2008))

Material Embodied energy (MJ/kg) Embodied carbon (kg CO2/kg)

Sawn softwood 7.4 0.45

Sawn hardwood 7.8 0.47
Glued laminated 12 0.65
timber
Laminated veneer 9.5 0.51
Particle board 9.5 0.51
MDF 11 0.59
Plywood 15 0.81
Hardboard 16 0.86