Sustainable Best Practice in Construction
• Locally sourced construction materials
(a) What is it?
Locally sourced construction materials are materials produced within a specific distance from the construction site; different certification programs specify a variety of distance. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’s (LEED) definition of locally sourced is, “building materials or products that have been extracted, harvested, or recovered, as well as manufactured, within 500 miles of the project site for a minimum of 10% or 20%, based on cost, of the total materials value.” Not all materials are available within 500 miles to all construction sites thus Civil Engineers must take initiative by using recycled materials that are available locally instead of having to import from impractical destinations.
(b) Why is it important?
Transportation of products can contribute over 50% of the overall energy of a particular element hence it’s important to source construction materials locally, transportation distances would significantly reduce thus there’s less of an impact on the environment. (124, sustainable construction Sandy halliday) For example less carbon dioxide is emitted through the phase therefore the project would have a much smaller carbon footprint and less green house gasses are given off. Not only would local sorcery of materials be sustainable it would also be economically effective. Due to the relatively shorter distances between suppliers and customers, delivery costs are relatively lower; Delivery times would also be more predictable reducing any risks of delays in the project. (c) What can you do to improve? Sourcing materials locally doesn’t mean that issues of harmful emissions to the atmosphere and using up finite resources are solved; there’s still several hundred miles of transportation being done; The transport sector stands for 32% of all energy consumption in Europe (Biofuels Wim Soetaert,2009). Hence we could improve the methods of transportation by having transportation vehicles fuel off of biofuels or run using a hybrid motor. Biodiesels are the easiest alternatives to petroleum diesel as it can be bumped into vehicles without any modifications having to be done, therefor there is no cost implementations in order to have a vehicles run on biodiesel. Not only are biofuels renewable, they are significantly more cost effective as seen in table 1.1 extract from (Biofuels Wim Soetaert,2009). We can easily see that the dry weight of each renewable feedstock cost about half as much as comparable fossil resources. The table above demonstrates how much less harmful gasses are emitted using bio diesels in comparison to petroleum diesel; its easy to deduce that biodiesels are about 50% cleaner and better for the environment in comparison to petroleum diesel. (d) How these initiatives inform the design of the proposed Centre? Sustainable Design • Design for Energy Efficient Buildings (a) What is it? Is designing with energy efficiency being first on mind; taking into consideration which materials are being used and how we are using such materials to our advantage. For example well-insulated walls or double-glazing windows in order to keep internal thermal conditions bearable without over consuming amenities such as air-conditioning or heating depending which part of the world the building is. (b) Why is it important? It is important, as it would lead to a decrease on demand for finite resources such as fossil fuels or oil preserving them for future generations. Electricity for example, could be generated in a cleaner way such as using solar panels on buildings rather then using combustion or nuclear fission to generate the electricity. Most methods of generating electricity can be harmful to the environment; combustion release lots of harmful gasses into the environment such as carbon monoxide and nuclear fission can be very dangerous as nuclear accidents could cause the land to be inhabitable due to radiation in …show more content…
Sir John Egan believed that there was five factors that the construction industry had to reevaluate in order for optimum performance; committed leadership, focus on the customer, integrated processes and teams, a quality-driven agenda and a commitment to people. The targets suggested in the report were based on evidence collected from projects in the UK and abroad. Targets included; annual reductions of 10% in construction cost and time as well as defects in projects should be reduced by 20% per
• Locally sourced construction materials
(a) What is it?
Locally sourced construction materials are materials produced within a specific distance from the construction site; different certification programs specify a variety of distance. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’s (LEED) definition of locally sourced is, “building materials or products that have been extracted, harvested, or recovered, as well as manufactured, within 500 miles of the project site for a minimum of 10% or 20%, based on cost, of the total materials value.” Not all materials are available within 500 miles to all construction sites thus Civil Engineers must take initiative by using recycled materials that are available locally instead of having to import from impractical destinations.
(b) Why is it important?
Transportation of products can contribute over 50% of the overall energy of a particular element hence it’s important to source construction materials locally, transportation distances would significantly reduce thus there’s less of an impact on the environment. (124, sustainable construction Sandy halliday) For example less carbon dioxide is emitted through the phase therefore the project would have a much smaller carbon footprint and less green house gasses are given off. Not only would local sorcery of materials be sustainable it would also be economically effective. Due to the relatively shorter distances between suppliers and customers, delivery costs are relatively lower; Delivery times would also be more predictable reducing any risks of delays in the project. (c) What can you do to improve? Sourcing materials locally doesn’t mean that issues of harmful emissions to the atmosphere and using up finite resources are solved; there’s still several hundred miles of transportation being done; The transport sector stands for 32% of all energy consumption in Europe (Biofuels Wim Soetaert,2009). Hence we could improve the methods of transportation by having transportation vehicles fuel off of biofuels or run using a hybrid motor. Biodiesels are the easiest alternatives to petroleum diesel as it can be bumped into vehicles without any modifications having to be done, therefor there is no cost implementations in order to have a vehicles run on biodiesel. Not only are biofuels renewable, they are significantly more cost effective as seen in table 1.1 extract from (Biofuels Wim Soetaert,2009). We can easily see that the dry weight of each renewable feedstock cost about half as much as comparable fossil resources. The table above demonstrates how much less harmful gasses are emitted using bio diesels in comparison to petroleum diesel; its easy to deduce that biodiesels are about 50% cleaner and better for the environment in comparison to petroleum diesel. (d) How these initiatives inform the design of the proposed Centre? Sustainable Design • Design for Energy Efficient Buildings (a) What is it? Is designing with energy efficiency being first on mind; taking into consideration which materials are being used and how we are using such materials to our advantage. For example well-insulated walls or double-glazing windows in order to keep internal thermal conditions bearable without over consuming amenities such as air-conditioning or heating depending which part of the world the building is. (b) Why is it important? It is important, as it would lead to a decrease on demand for finite resources such as fossil fuels or oil preserving them for future generations. Electricity for example, could be generated in a cleaner way such as using solar panels on buildings rather then using combustion or nuclear fission to generate the electricity. Most methods of generating electricity can be harmful to the environment; combustion release lots of harmful gasses into the environment such as carbon monoxide and nuclear fission can be very dangerous as nuclear accidents could cause the land to be inhabitable due to radiation in …show more content…
Sir John Egan believed that there was five factors that the construction industry had to reevaluate in order for optimum performance; committed leadership, focus on the customer, integrated processes and teams, a quality-driven agenda and a commitment to people. The targets suggested in the report were based on evidence collected from projects in the UK and abroad. Targets included; annual reductions of 10% in construction cost and time as well as defects in projects should be reduced by 20% per