Appropriate Building
Technology
APPROPRIATE BUILDING MATERIALS
building materials
The "appropriateness" of a building material or construction technology can never be generalized. The
following questions show some of the main factors which determine appropriateness of the materials.
• Is the material produced locally, or is it partially or entirely imported ?
• Is it cheap, abundantly available, and/or easily renewable ?
• Is the material and construction technique climatically acceptable?
• Does the production and use require a high energy input, and cause wastage and pollution?
• Does the material and construction technique provide sufficient safety against common natural
hazards (e.g. fire, biological agents, heavy rain, hurricanes, earthquakes)?
Classification of Building materials
Organic and inorganic Based on characters
• Organic : timber, bamboo • Solid : stones, brick, metals
• Inorganic : metals, iron, copper • Binding : gypsum, Lime , cement
Natural and manufactured • Finishing : paints, varnish
• Natural : earth, stone, sand, timber • Insulating : rock wool, expanded clay
• Manufactured : metal, plastics, paints Renewable/non-renewable
Plentiful/scarce • Renewable: replenished naturally
• Plentiful : stone, wood, mud • Non-renewable: only limited quantities
• Scarce : oil,
Building materials
Choice of material depends on: Buildings use energy in two main ways
• Climatic condition Energy for use
• Economic aspects • Is the energy used every day when the building is
occupied. e.g. for heating rooms, electrical appliances,
• Principal properties elevators, escalators
Energy needed for material and construction
• To extract and process the material
• To transport the materials to the site
• To build and demolish
Energy consumption
Building materials
1. Embodied energy of material
Embodied energy is the amount of energy consumed in manufacturing of the building material. 50%
of all raw materials are used in building
2. Grey energy
The energy used to transport materials from production place to the construction site
Long distance transportation consume a lot energy, resulting in increased greenhouse gas production.
Building materials
3. Induced energy
• The energy used in the actual construction of the building
4. Energy consumed at the operational phase corresponds to the running of the building when its
occupied
5. Energy consumed in the demolition process of building as well as in the recycling of their parts,
Most of the time environmental destruction is caused by the over exploitation of non-renewable
resources for building development like mineral extraction, forest felling, cement manufacture.
Building materials
Selection of Building materials
How to assess/select sustainable building material
Evaluation/selection based on Performance, aesthetics, health, environmental impacts
Three basic steps of product selection
• Research :- gathering all technical information to be evaluated, including manufacturers information,
building codes, government regulations
• Evaluation :- involves confirmation of the technical information, as well as filling in information
gaps, request of product certifications
• Selection :- involves the use of an evaluation matrix for scoring the project specific environmental
criteria
Recycling Building materials
Closed loop recycling :- a recycling process in which
a manufactured product is recycled back into the same
(similar)product without significant deterioration of
the quality of the product.
e.g. nylon carpet fiber
Recycling Building materials
Post-consumer recycled material
A reclaimed waste product that has already served
purpose to consumer and has been diverted or
separated from waste management collection system
for recycling
example newspapers that is made into cellulose
building
Recycling Building materials
Pre-consumer recycled materials
A material that is removed from production process (including scrap, breakage, or by products)and
reused in alternative process before consumer distribution
e.g. mineral wool, a by product of the steel blast furnace process, used for mineral fiber acoustical
ceiling panel
Recycling Building materials
Life cycle assessment (LCA) tools/materials
LCA is the methodology for evaluating the environments impacts of the material through its entire
life cycle from its initial production through to its eventual reuse, recycling or disposal .
LCA attempts to identify and qualify all relevant environmental impacts for materials so that
comprehensive comparisons can be made
…
QUIZE
1. Explain
I. Embodied energy
II. Grey energy
2. Describe Renewable and non renewable building materials with examples
3. Describe scarce and Plentiful materials with examples
