Selection and implementation of green materials for the sustainable development of a residential layout

Abstract

The building sectors such as residential layouts are directly or indirectly contributing to the annual deterioration of an environment. Hence there is a need to contribute to sustainable development by finding more environmentally benevolent methods of construction. An initiative has been taken for the selection and implementation of green materials for the sustainable development of a residential layout through this study. Materials like Ground Granulated Blast-furnace Slag (GGBS), M−sand, water reducing admixture, Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) and foaming agent for the study were selected through a detailed literature survey. Building materials like bricks and concrete consuming more volume in a building were chosen for an experimental study. Bricks of types 1 to 4 with varying proportions of cement, GGBS, EPS, foam and M−Sand had been casted and tested for water absorption and strength. M 30 grade of concrete was considered in the study. The green concrete is produced by replacing cement by GGBS in varying proportions of 35%, 45% and 55% and was tested for compressive and flexural strengths. To conduct comparative study on green v/s conventional materials towards cost and CO 2 footprint, a residential layout with 7 types of villas was planned in Revit software to find out the quantities of materials for a selected type of villa. It was observed that type 2 bricks performed better compared to other types and higher compressive and flexural strengths were obtained at 45% replacement of cement with GGBS for the green concrete. Also the cost of green concrete was 48% cheaper than conventional concrete. It was also observed that there was 48% reduction in CO 2 footprint while adopting green bricks and green concrete in a construction project that makes it more environment friendly and sustainable alternative to conventional concrete.