Sustainability in construction
Sustainable construction aims to reduce the negative health and environmental impacts caused by the construction process and by the operation and use of buildings and the built environment. It can be seen as the construction industry's contribution to more sustainable development. Precise definitions vary from place to place, and are constantly evolving to encompass varying approaches and priorities. More comprehensively, sustainability can be considered from three dimension of planet, people and profit across the entire construction supply chain. Recent research highlights that emerging sustainable construction materials—such as recycled concrete, bio-based composites, and low-carbon cements—can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining structural performance.
Cement production is a major contributor to embodied carbon in construction. Globally, about two-thirds of CO₂ emissions from cement manufacturing come from the chemical process of clinker calcination and one-third from energy use.
Key concepts include the protection of the natural environment, choice of non-toxic materials, reduction and reuse of resources, waste minimization, and the use of life-cycle cost analysis.
Definition of sustainable construction
One definition of "Sustainable Construction" is the introduction of healthy living and workplace environments, the use of materials that are sustainable, durable and by extension environmentally friendly. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency defines sustainable construction as "the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction." Agyekum-Mensah et al.. note that some definitions of sustainable construction and development "seem to be vague" and they question use of any definition of "sustainability" which suggests that sustainable or acceptable activities can be continued indefinitely, because construction projects do not run on indefinitely.Evolution path
In the 1970s, awareness of sustainability emerged, amidst oil crises. At that time, people began to realize the necessity and urgency of energy conservation, which is to utilize energy in an efficient way and find alternatives to contemporary sources of energy. Additionally, shortages of other natural resources at that time, such as water, also raised public attention to the importance of sustainability and conservation. In the late 1960s, the construction industry began to explore ecological approaches to construction.The concept of sustainable construction was born out of sustainable development discourse. The term 'sustainable development' was first coined in the Brundtland report of 1987, defined as the ability to meet the needs of all people in the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. This report defined a turning point in sustainability discourse since it deviated from the earlier limits-to-growth perspective to focus more on achieving social and economic milestones, and their connection to environmental goals, particularly in developing countries. Sustainable development interconnects three socially concerned systems—environment, society and economy—a system seeking to achieve a range of goals as defined by the United Nations Development Program.
The introduction of sustainable development into the environmental/economical discourse served as a middle ground for the limits-to-growth theory, and earlier pro-growth theories that argued maintaining economic growth would not hinder long-term sustainability. As a result, scholars have faulted sustainable development for being too value-laden since applications of its definition vary heavily depending on relevant stakeholders, allowing it to be used in support of both pro-growth and pro-limitation perspectives of development arguments despite their vastly different implications. In order for the concept to be effective in real-life applications, several specified frameworks for its use in various fields and industries, including sustainable construction, were developed.
The construction industry's response to sustainable development is sustainable construction. In 1994, the definition of sustainable construction was given by Professor Charles J. Kibert during the Final Session of the First International Conference of CIB TG 16 on Sustainable Construction as "the creation and responsible management of a healthy built environment based on resource efficient and ecological principles". Notably, the traditional concerns in construction are replaced in sustainable construction by resource depletion, environmental degradation and healthy environment. Sustainable construction addresses these criteria through the following principles set by the conference:
- Minimize resource consumption by effective procurment systems and strategies
- Maximize resource reuse
- Use renewable or recyclable resources
- Create a healthy, non-toxic environment
- Pursue quality in creating the built environment
Since 1994, much progress to sustainable construction has been made all over the world. According to a 2015 Green Building Economic Impact Study released by U.S. Green Building Council, the green building industry contributes more than $134.3 billion in labor income to working Americans. The study also found that green construction's growth rate is rapidly outpacing that of conventional construction and will continue to rise.
Goals of sustainable construction
Current state
According to United Nations Environment Programme, "the increased construction activities and urbanization will increase waste which will eventually destroy natural resources and wild life habitats over 70% of land surface from now up to 2032. " Moreover, construction uses around half of natural resources that humans consume. Production and transport of building materials consumes 25 - 50 percent of all energy used. Taking UK as an example, the construction industry counts for 47% of emissions, of which manufacturing of construction products and materials accounts for the largest amount within the process of construction.Benefits
By implementing sustainable construction, benefits such as lower cost, environmental protection, sustainability promotion, and [|expansion of the market] may be achieved during the construction phase. As mentioned in ConstructionExecutive, construction waste accounts for 34.7% of all waste in Europe. Implementing sustainability in construction would cut down on wasted materials substantially.Potential lower cost
Sustainable construction might result in higher investment at the construction stage of projects, the competition between contractors, due to the promotion of sustainability in the industry, would encourage the application of sustainable construction technologies, ultimately decreasing the construction cost. Meanwhile, the encouraged cooperation of designer and engineer would bring better design into the construction phase.Using more sustainable resources reduces cost of construction as there will be less water and energy being used for construction and with less resources being used in the projects, it would lead to lower disposal costs as there is less waste being made.