Energy Efficiency and Recycled Building Materials in Case of Cellular Glass - Glass Brick

Abstract

Building material and components play a crucial role in solar buildings construction and planning. The literature review of the research emphasize that solar architecture and building integration is in need of some productive design strategies which focuses on reuse of recycled building materials. This paper aims at suggesting a mechanism for optimal use of recycled materials in construction industry which serve energy efficiency as one of the top priorities. The research questions are: 1- what are the priorities of using recycled material as related to energy efficiency issues? 2- Which recycled materials can be used in construction to meet energy efficiency in solar buildings? Recycled cellular glass is selected as research sample to develop inference mechanism. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods as well as problem solving approach are used in this study to answer the research questions related to construction industry particularly energy protection. The findings indicate increase in energy price and increase in the difference between cost of melting raw materials and melting recycled glass; and enactment of regulations for reducing extraction of raw materials and using recycled ones instead in construction projects can significantly affect the cost-effectiveness of using recycled materials in producing cellular glass; especially in contemporary architecture and future ZEB sustecture. In the other word recycled building materials can be adopted in solar architecture to energy efficiency.