Question

How has sustainable construction materials changed the construction industry?

Answer 1

The contribution of building materials and construction in global CO2 emissions is about 11%. The world is facing global warming due to anthropogenic emissions by burning fossil fuels & coals for transportation, electricity generation by power plants,Kiln industry for cement and brick manufacturing, quarrying stones,removing fertile soil and forest which acts as carbon sink, plastic pollution on land and oceans etc.The sustainable resources (meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of the future generations) management is the need of the hours.The SDGs goals (2015-30) like SDG-13"Tackling climate change",SDG-14 & 15- Protecting life on oceans and lands" etc can be achieved by sustainably managaing resource.

The ashes from cement industry,rice husk & straws etc is used in cement industry to manufacture cement with its contents varying from 20% toabout 60% significantly enhanced strength and durability of the structures when used as construction materials and reduces CO2 emissions and resources wastage.

The bamboos which grows fast and give good return as income support to families protect soils from erosion and also used as building materials as it has good compressive and tensile strength.

The plastic wastage can be used as making bricks for low income housing projects.It can also be used in road construction.The waste materials during construction can be used in making temporary roadway for vehicles.The waste water during curing and other activities can be used to spraying on roadways to settle the dust particles (PM2.5 &PM10).The top 300 mm soil layer for green projects should be stacked so that once the construction is complete these materials can be used for gardening purposed.

The firbe reinforced materials of steel, plastic, wood etc has significantly changed the construction of structures in modern time.These materials are being used for big project s like Expressways, Airports, sea ports, buildings, bridges etc.The fibre reinforced materials has very high tensile strength and thus reducing the dead thicknesse and materials requirements in construction industry.

The pretensioning and post tensioning is also saving the materials used in the construction industry for big projects.The light materials (foam concrete ) are good earthquake quake resisting and that's why these can be used in earthquake prone areas.

The different stakeholders must promote sustainable way of living.Promotion of renewable energy like Solar energy ,wind energy,hydro energy,water to energy generation, sustainable waste management, recycling of materials will further help in saving resources.

"The earth has enough to meets everyone's needs but not their greeds" and the mother earth protect those who protects the earth"