Environmental Impact Of Construction Research Articles

Energetic and Functional Rehabilitation of Residential Buildings in Europe: Analysis and Cataloguing of the Strategies Used

The aim of this paper is to explore the rehabilitation strategies for multi-family dwellings on the level of function and techniques. The study employs its own methods of analysis using a sample of selected cases as a reference. Nearly 20% of EU buildings will have to be renovated by 2023, as almost 40% of the existing houses were built before 1980. The environmental impact of construction is among the highest among industrial activities due to the high consumption of resources and the generation of low-value waste at the construction and demolition stages. One way to reduce the environmental impact in this sector is to intervene in the building process, optimising the use of resources and waste generation. The principal objective of refurbishments is to reduce household energy consumption. However, the renovations in the housing sector should not be limited to energy considerations; the functional and technical aspects should also be considered. A new refurbishment model is necessary to focus on providing and improving the habitability of the housing stock and reducing the environmental impact by optimising the use of resources and waste generation. To achieve this, the renovations should be carefully monitored.

Contribution of On-Site Wastage to the Environmental Impact of Construction in the Case of Bricklaying Mortar

Contribution of On-Site Wastage to the Environmental Impact of Construction in the Case of Bricklaying Mortar

Recycling of Waste Originating Form Flexible Pavements for Bound-Base Courses of Flexible Pavements

Reclaimed Asphalt pavement (RAP) is a C&D waste originating from the reclamation of asphalt pavement which has completed its service life. Using RAP would potentially reduce reliance on primary aggregates and lowers the environmental impact of construction. The present study is an attempt made to utilize RAP judiciously as a bound base course of the flexible pavement. Natural coarse aggregates were replaced by RAP in proportions of 50% & 100% with & without Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA), for production of bound-base course mixes. To ensure the long run performance, the aging condition was simulated in the laboratory and mechanical properties such as Marshall Stability, Tensile Strengths, Marshall Stability Retained, Indirect Tensile Ratio, rutting resistance, Fatigue life, and abrasion resistance were considered. With the incorporation of 50-100% coarse RAP, the Marshall Stability, rutting resistance and abrasion were found to be improved by 30-32%, 43-104% and 11-17% respectively. Similarly, total cost saving is about 15-35%, which is quite significant. However, the addition of WMA enhanced the cost by 3-4%, which is insignificant when combined with RAP, furthermore, the reductions in fume emission enhance the sustainability aspect of the technology.

Black Hole Algorithm for Sustainable Design of Counterfort Retaining Walls

The optimization of the cost and CO 2 emissions in earth-retaining walls is of relevance, since these structures are often used in civil engineering. The optimization of costs is essential for the competitiveness of the construction company, and the optimization of emissions is relevant in the environmental impact of construction. To address the optimization, black hole metaheuristics were used, along with a discretization mechanism based on min–max normalization. The stability of the algorithm was evaluated with respect to the solutions obtained; the steel and concrete values obtained in both optimizations were analyzed. Additionally, the geometric variables of the structure were compared. Finally, the results obtained were compared with another algorithm that solved the problem. The results show that there is a trade-off between the use of steel and concrete. The solutions that minimize CO 2 emissions prefer the use of concrete instead of those that optimize the cost. On the other hand, when comparing the geometric variables, it is seen that most remain similar in both optimizations except for the distance between buttresses. When comparing with another algorithm, the results show a good performance in optimization using the black hole algorithm.

Analysis of the environmental impact of construction by assessing the carbon footprint of buildings

The paper presents a methodology for carbon footprint assessment of buildings according to the current European standard. The analytical formulas are proposed to assess the carbon footprint through emissions calculation for the building life cycle including extraction, transportation, and processing of raw materials, construction and installation process, operation, maintenance, and repair, as well as liquidation and disposal. Beyond the life cycle boundaries, the possible benefits from recycling and reuse of building components and materials are considered.

Economic, Energy, Exergo-Economic, and Environmental Analyses and Multiobjective Optimization of Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination Systems with Boron Removal

We presented economic, energy, exergo-economic, and environmental analyses and multiobjective optimization (MOO) of seawater reverse osmosis (RO) desalination systems with boron restrictions. Exergo-economic unit cost for flows and exergy destruction for components were included. Life cycle assessment (LCA) principles with the contributions of construction and operating were introduced. An improved augmented e-constraint method was adopted for solving the MOO problems. Unnecessary iterations were avoided by bypass parameter. Results showed that the Pareto-solution with a weighting of 0.4 could provide good performances for all objective functions. The CO2 emissions reduction of 9.0% could be achieved, while the water cost is increased by 3.3%. Fixed cost dominates EUC. The environmental impact of construction is neglectable, while electricity consumption accounts for the largest share of CO2 emissions from 93.4% to 97.8%. The details of energy utilization for components, the irreversibility, and equipment...

Wood modification technologies - a review

The market for new durable products of modified wood has increased substantially during the last few years, especially in Europe. This increased interest depends partly on the restricted use of toxic preservatives due to increased environmental concern, as well as the need for reduced maintenance for wood products that are mainly for exterior use. Furthermore, as sustainability becomes a greater concern, the environmental impact of construction and interior materials should be included in planning by considering the entire life cycle and embodied energy of the materials used. As a result, wood modification has been implemented to improve the intrinsic properties of wood, widen the range of sawn timber applications, and acquire the form and functionality desired by engineers, without bringing environmental friendliness into question. The different wood modification processes are at various stages of development, and the challenges that must be overcome to expand to industrial applications differ amongst them. In this paper, three groups of wood modification processes are discussed and exemplified with modified wood products that have been newly introduced to the market: (i) chemical processing (acetylation, furfurylation, resin impregnation etc.); (ii) thermo-hydro processing (thermal treatment); and (iii) thermo-hydro-mechanical processing (surface densification). Building on these examples, the paper will discuss the environmental impact assessment of modification processes and further development needs.

Context, drivers, and future potential for wood-frame multi-story construction in Europe

Compared to many manufacturing industries, there have been few major improvements over the past few decades in the productivity, profitability, or the environmental impact of construction. However, driven by institutional changes, promotion campaigns, and technological development in the 1990s, novel industrial wood-frame multi-story construction (WMC) practices have been emerging in some European countries. The aim of the study is to explore the WMC market potential in Europe by combining two complementary approaches: Top-down scenario analysis and bottom-up innovation diffusion analysis. The results show that the WMC diffusion is heavily dependent on the regulatory framework and the structure of the construction industry. The risk-averse nature of the construction value chain resisting the uptake of new practices appears to be a more significant hindrance for the future market potential of WMC, compared to the possible competition from alternative construction practices. It would require both increasing competition within the WMC sector and increasing co-operation between wood product suppliers and the construction sector to attract investments, to reduce costs, and to make the WMC practices more credible throughout the construction value chain.

Diffusion of Sustainable Construction Practices. A Case of International Cooperation

Data shows that buildings play an important role in the field of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. The exchange of information among different countries is a key element to promote a wider diffusion of practices for sustainable development in the fields of architecture and urban planning, contributing to the improvement of new skills and economic and production activities, while also reducing the environmental impact of construction on the territory. An international cooperation can lead an exchange of experiences and practices, which could play a fundamental role since countries can have similar problems to deal with, as it happens for the specific identity of the Mediterranean territory in coastal and rural areas. This paper analyses a case of international cooperation, the project SCORE, “Sustainable COnstruction in Rural and fragile areas for energy Efficiency”, financed under the European MED Programme with the purpose to promote sustainable energy policies in the construction sector on fragile coastal and rural Mediterranean areas.

Environmental Impact of Construction and Repair Materials on Surface Water and Groundwater: Detailed Evaluation of Waste-Amended Highway Materials

An evaluation methodology was developed to help transportation agencies make prudent decisions about the reuse of waste materials and by-products in highway construction. The primary objective of this evaluation process was to assess the potential impact on surface water and groundwater of constituents released from these materials. Test materials included coal fly ash, bottom ash, blast furnace slags, scrap tires, foundry sand, and recycled asphalt pavement. Test materials were screened for potential aquatic impact in their raw form. Then they were amended with either asphalt or aggregate for detailed assessment, including leaching (batch and flat plate or column tests) and environmental removal, reduction, and retardation (soil sorption, volatilization, photolysis, and biodegradation) tests. Short-term bioassays were used to measure directly the potential aquatic impact of derived leachates as a supplement to chemical analyses. For most materials, amendment with asphalt or aggregate largely reduced or eliminated any impact on the aquatic organisms. Among environmental factors, soil sorption appeared to be the most effective contaminant-removal mechanism. All waste-amended asphalts and aggregates exhibited no measurable impact on target organisms after soil sorption. However, for materials such as pressure-treated wood and deck sealer (used as is), environmental tests showed little or no effect in reducing their aquatic impact.

Environmental Impact of Construction and Repair Materials on Surface Water and Groundwater: Screening and Evaluation Methodology

The 6-year NCHRP Project 25-9, titled Environmental Impact of Construction and Repair Materials on Surface and Ground Waters, concluded in March 2000. The main purpose of the study was to develop and demonstrate a methodology for identification of the possible impact of highway construction and repair (C&R) materials on the quality of surface water and groundwater in the immediate highway environment. The evaluation methodology consisted of an initial screening of a raw (unamended) C&R material leachate for aquatic toxicity by using bioassay tests and of further detailed testing and evaluation of those materials identified as potentially toxic. In the detailed evaluation, leaching source term tests were conducted to determine leachate composition under varying environmental conditions. Environmental tests were then conducted on the leachate to determine the effects of removal, reduction, and retardation (RRR) processes in the highway environment. The environmental processes included photolysis, volatilization, biodegradation, and soil sorption. The leaching and RRR tests identified interactions between specific environmental processes and leachate contaminants and yielded empirically derived functions for each process. The functions were coupled with selected reference environments in a computer model to simulate fate and transport for surface and subsurface pathways. Model results were reported as concentrations, loads, or fluxes of contaminants as a function of time at the highway boundary. Complete evaluation methodology results are presented for a standard asphalt cement concrete developed to serve as a reference asphalt concrete for interlaboratory comparisons.