An Investigation on Low Carbon Strategies in the Building Construction Process

The construction industry is one of the main consumers of resources and raw materials that has a very significant effect on the environment. Greenhouse gases emitted from construction industry plays an important role on global climate change. Material environmental effect is evaluated fromthe viewpoint of Embodied Energy (EE) and Embodied CO۲ (ECO۲). EE of a material is the total energy drained for its construction while ECO۲ is the total Greenhouse Gas emission from the manufacturing process of a material. The estimation of CO۲ emissions from building materials are complicated due tothe lack of a link between inventory data and aggregate results. There are numerous solutions to reduce EE and ECO۲ of building materials. This research investigates several approaches characterized by numerous strategies that are called Low Carbon Emission Approaches (LEAs) in building materials field. Use of natural materials, sustainable production process, use of renewable resources, use of innovative production process as well as waste materials are some of the low carbon strategies which eliminate a considerable part of embodied and CO۲ emissions. These are effective solutions for creating a sustainable andhealthy dwelling for the occupants and preserving the environment.

Keywords:

energy , material , embodied energy , building.